fall-back

(v) fall backwards and down
(v) hang (back) or fall (behind) in movement, progress, development, etc. lag, fall behind, dawdle,
(v) move back and away from
- The enemy fell back
(v) retreat fall behind, recede, drop off, lose,
(v) have recourse to
- The government resorted to rationing meat
resort, recur,
(v) go back to bad behavior
- Those who recidivate are often minor criminals
recidivate, relapse, retrogress, lapse, regress,

lag fall behind dawdle recede drop off lose resort recur recidivate relapse retrogress lapse regress

gain ground get ahead make headway pull ahead win gain advance