knockback

noun

1. A blow that causes the recipient to fall or move backwards, a knock back; a recoil.

   “He lifted his hand in a knockback spell, which would send me sailing right into the zombie.”

2. Something that impedes or reverses progress; a setback.

   “[…]the chemo had not worked and had gone back into his brain.[…]He had knockback after knockback. It would have taken its toll on anyone.”

   “Despite all the knockbacks from COVID, as an industry we are ready for the turnaround and more than ready to welcome back passengers returning from lockdown.”

3. (Australia, UK, informal)A rejection; a refusal.

   “He got a few knockbacks today when he tried to give his resume out at the local shops.”

   “The only other knockback in the Port Kembla-Wollongong district was from Benny Westwood of the Advance Tyre Service. He, too, ordered us off the premises.”

   “1995, Heather Hogarth, Your First Job: Getting It, Keeping It, and Going Further, MacMillan Education Australia, page 82, So you′ve had a knockback. All right, we don′t all get the first job we apply for.”

   “They asked matter-of-fact questions about harrowing tales that the victims had been trying to tell other media outlets, only to receive knockback after knockback for more than a year.”

   “Nicole Kidman got a knockback because Su-Man was too busy whipping a certain Oscar-winning French actress into shape.”