---

• n  a failure to maintain a higher state
• v  drop to a lower level, as in one's morals or standards

• Almost from the outset, however, he was harassed by government forces from without and backsliding Communists from within.
• Napolitano, a member of a Naples youth resistance movement during World War II, left no room in his own remarks for any backsliding on what is accepted history in Italy.
• Governments are figuring it out after decades of white papers and bureaucratic backsliding.

• lapse
• lapsing
• relapse
• relapsing
• reversion
• reverting
• backslide

News & Articles

---

• Colts’ offseason moves might produce nine new starters
  Someone mentioned once – Bill Polian? Jim Irsay? Bill Tobin? – that in the NFL, status quo isn’t an option. You’re either getting better, or your backsliding. You’re either massaging the roster, trying to upgrade this area or that position, or you’re resting on recent success and allowing complacency to take over. I’m guessing Ryan... Read More
  June 12, 2013 - The Indianapolis Star

Quotes

---

• Barack Obama in AFP
  But Obama added: "What I said was essentially that rather than see a complete collapse in Copenhagen...... at least we kind of held ground and there wasn't too much backsliding from where we were."
• Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Guardian Unlimited
  If there is a backsliding in democracy, it would have serious effects on the economy,Erdogan warned Wednesday. "The will of the people that was reflected in the ballot boxes must be respected."
• Gen James L Jones in FOXNews
  It's reached a moment in time when I think there's common understanding we have to do something else. We can't afford to be backsliding,Jones said.