scale back

Related to scale back: pertain to, scale down, run by, stick with, in line with, pick up on, argue for

scale back

To minimize or reduce something in size or scope. A noun or pronoun can be used between "scale" and "back." With such a dramatic decrease in funding, we're going to have to scale back on our project now.
See also: back, scale
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

scale back

v.
To reduce the scope or extent of something according to a standard or by degrees; reduce something in calculated amounts: The company scaled back the scheduled pay increase. After reviewing its budget, the school scaled its sports activities back.
See also: back, scale
The American Heritage® Dictionary of Phrasal Verbs.
See also:
  • back into
  • back into (someone or something)
  • involve with
  • involve with (someone or something)
  • involved with
  • arrange for
  • arrange for some time
  • arrange some music for
  • add in
  • angle
References in periodicals archive
NLB will also scale back operations in Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany, Italy and Serbia and sell its 41 percent stake in Banka Celje, the seventh biggest bank by assets in the former Yugoslav nation.
Tough trading conditions in the pub sector have forced the Hartlepool business to scale back plans to expand its pub estate from 75 to 200 by the end of 2009.
Cowbridge and Llantwit Major police stations, in the Vale of Glamorgan, are currently under review as South Wales Police look to scale back their estate.
US Department of Defense (DOD) may scale back Future Combat System.
is set to have more room to develop its own ready-to-drink (RTD) tea brands in the United States after the company said it would scale back Beverage Partners Worldwide, its venture with Nestle.
Additionally, House Republicans who had signed on to a 2006 bill to scale back some of the law's most costly provisions were all re-elected to office.
Fit & Pregnant also covers which specific exercises are best avoided particularly in the second trimester onward, how to lift weights safely, and how to scale back particularly intense regimens--pregnant women are advised to train not for professional competition, but rather specifically for the "event" of delivering a healthy baby.
The discounter says it plans to scale back growth plans in 2007 and 2008.
The Port Authority has announced it will take on responsibility for the construction of the World Trade Center Memorial, the Memorial Museum and the Visitor Orientation and Education Center, a decision that Manhattan developer and memorial construction czar, Frank Sciame, recommended along with his recent cost saving redesign of the memorial as a way to further scale back the project's price.
Nevertheless, the new study "tips the scale back toward uncertainty" about saw palmetto, he says.--N.S.
The ALA, which has pushed to scale back the government's powers to gain information from libraries, said its study was the first to examine a question that was central to a House vote in July on the Patriot Act: how frequently federal, state, and local agents are demanding records from libraries.
Two days after the administration released the $724 billion estimate, President Bush threatened to veto any bill that would scale back the prescription drug program.
As a result, he says, states will "have an incentive to scale back programs, and that's the safety net, that's what is keeping people alive, keeping people out of emergency rooms."
But speculators looking further ahead are reportedly concerned that tighter credit limits in China will scale back that nation's construction boom--and ultimately its demand for metals.
Since the government implemented energy rationing in March, hundreds of companies have been forced to scale back production.