dialing back
Easing off gradually
Dialing back means reducing intensity, scale, or commitment—pulling something back from its current level.
You might dial back your expectations, your rhetoric, or your spending.
The image comes from turning a dial counterclockwise to lower volume or power.
Often appears as a gentler alternative to cutting or eliminating: The company is dialing back expansion plans rather than canceling them entirely.
- downsizingReducing workforce or scale
- recalibrationAdjusting measurement standards again
- taperingProgressive decrease in width
- economizingReducing expenditures deliberately
- conservationPreventing waste or loss
temperance · restraint · toning down · throttling · resetting · moderation · de-escalation · retrenchment · fine-tuning · withdrawal · curtailment · softening · contraction · streamlining · turning down · dimming · calming · cooling off
- reducingshrinking, lessening, diminishing, decreasing, scaling down
- retreatwithdrawal, retreating, withdraw, pullback, retreat
dialing backramping up
Progressively increasing in scale
escalating · cranking up · turning up · stepping up · amping up
dialing backleaning in
Tilting body forward
diving in · going deeper · expanding · pushing forward · pressing ahead
dialing backescalating
Increasing by degrees
inflaming · fanning the flames · heating up · aggravating · provoking
dial, dialing, dialled, dialer, dialers, dials, back, backed, backing