Phrasal verb
claw back
Definition
phrasal verb. to get back something that you lost or gave away, often with a lot of effort.
phrasal verb. to recover something (typically money, power, or an advantage) with difficulty or through forceful action; often used in financial or political contexts regarding the retrieval of disbursed funds.
Examples
“The company is trying to claw back the bonuses.”
“After the accounting error was discovered, the government moved to claw back the overpaid benefits from thousands of citizens.”
“The opposition party struggled to claw back its lead in the polls after a series of high-profile scandals damaged its public reputation.”
Examples
simple
“The company is trying to claw back the bonuses.”
contextual
“After the accounting error was discovered, the government moved to claw back the overpaid benefits from thousands of citizens.”
complex
“The opposition party struggled to claw back its lead in the polls after a series of high-profile scandals damaged its public reputation.”
Usage
frequently used in business and politics with objects like 'money', 'taxes', 'costs', or 'power'.
Teaching tip
the verb 'claw' suggests a sharp, physical struggle; use this image to help students understand why it is used for difficult or aggressive recovery of assets.
Pitfall
They clawed the money back.
They clawed back the money.
while technically separable, it is almost always used in the inseparable form when the object is a noun phrase.
Phrasal verb
Particles
back
Separability
optional
Pattern
claw + back + object
Synonyms
Antonyms
Grammar
Scan code
englishreference.com/q/claw-back