The Clue
Shrinks back (7 letter answer)
The Answer
RESILES
Tags
Notes
The answer RESILES is so rare that it appears less than once every 2500 puzzles.
Definition
RESILE as a verb:
1. pull out from an agreement, contract, statement, etc.; "The landlord cannot resile from the lease"
2. (bounce, resile, take a hop, spring, bound, rebound, recoil, reverberate, ricochet) = spring back; spring away from an impact; "The rubber ball bounced"; "These particles do not resile but they unite after they collide"
3. (abjure, recant, forswear, retract, resile) = formally reject or disavow a formerly held belief, usually under pressure; "He retracted his earlier statements about his religion"; "She abjured her beliefs"
4. return to the original position or state after being stretched or compressed; "The rubber tubes resile"