drawback

Etymology

It is formed from English draw + back,^[2][3][4] after the phrasal verb draw back, to retreat or withdraw.^[2][5][4] The OED compares the earlier pullback for the sense "hindrance".^[2] Etymonline explains the idea as something that holds back success or activity.^[3]

Earliest recorded meaning

A person who draws back or holds back from an undertaking: 1565, in William Allen's defence of the doctrine of purgatory; the sense is obsolete, last recorded in 1886.^[2] The Shorter Oxford dates the word to the early 17th century,^[5] and Dictionary.com to 1610–20.^[4]

Semantic evolution

From before 1640 a drawback was something that holds a person or thing back, a hindrance.^[2] In trade it meant a refund of duty, especially of excise or import duty paid on goods that are then exported (1680);^[2][5] Merriam-Webster dates this sense to 1697,^[6] and Johnson (1755) gave only "money paid back for ready payment, or any other reason", quoting Swift.^[7] With from it meant something that takes away from a thing, a diminution (1753, in Hogarth).^[2] The current main sense, a feature that makes something less attractive, a disadvantage, appears in 1843 in Murray's handbook for travellers in France;^[2] Etymonline dates "hindrance, disadvantage" to 1720.^[3] The older "hindrance" and "diminution" senses are now somewhat rare.^[2] Technical uses include a movable core in a founder's mould (1843) and, as an adjective, a mechanism that can be drawn back, as in a drawback lock (1678).^[2]

Timeline

• 1565 – a person who draws back from an undertaking (obsolete by 1886).^[2]
• before 1640 – a hindrance.^[2]
• 1678 – adjective, of a mechanism that can be drawn back, as in drawback lock.^[2]
• 1680 – a refund of duty on goods that are exported.^[2][5] Merriam-Webster dates it to 1697.^[6]
• 1753 – with from, a diminution.^[2]
• 1843 – a disadvantage or problem; in founding, a movable piece of a mould.^[2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A feature that makes something less attractive or useful; a disadvantage: The main drawback of the flat is the noise from the street.^[8][2][6]
2. A refund of customs or excise duty paid on goods that are then exported, or used to make goods for export.^[8][6][2]
3. (now rare) A hindrance.^[2][8]

Related words

• draw back
• pullback
• setback

References

1. ^ a b Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
6. ^ a b c d Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
7. ^ Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
8. ^ a b c Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins