fallback option

Meaning

1. 1nouncountable

   A second choice you can use if your first plan or choice fails.

   Grammar: Countable: a fallback option, fallback options. Often used with have or as a.

   Patterns

   • a fallback option
   • have a fallback option
   • as a fallback option
   • keep something as a fallback option

   If the flight is canceled, the train is our fallback option.

   She applied to several universities, with her local college as a fallback option.

   Always have a fallback option in case the main supplier runs out.

Word forms

Common combinations

a good fallback option

Renting a car is a good fallback option if the buses stop running.

have a fallback option

Make sure you have a fallback option before you quit.

as a fallback option

He kept the job offer as a fallback option.

no fallback option

Without savings, they had no fallback option.

Synonyms and how they differ

backup

Very close in meaning, but backup is used more for people, copies, or equipment, while fallback option stresses a choice in a plan.

alternative

A more neutral word for another choice; it does not necessarily suggest that the first choice might fail.

Plan B

Informal and often used for a whole different plan rather than one option.

Opposites

Word family

fallback noun

A thing you can use or do if your first plan fails.

fall back on phrasal verb

To use something as a second choice when needed.

Commonly confused: fallback option or fallback plan?

Practice

Make it your own

Write a sentence using “fallback option”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.

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