Dictionary

take a back seat en · VERB

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio

Etymology

From take a seat and back seat.

Meanings

1. (idiomatic) To adopt a position of noninvolvement.
   • The new chairman is happy to take a back seat when it comes to day-to-day operations.
2. (idiomatic) To be second to someone or something; to be less important or have a lower priority.
   • The bluntness of King Vajiralongkorn's intervention—and the determination it reveals to resist relatively small checks on royal power—is both a snub to the junta and a worry for democrats, some of whom had dared hope that the new king might be happy to take a back seat in public life. 2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2020:
   • Mr. August, a screenwriter for movies like “Charlie’s Angels” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” said that while artificial intelligence had taken a back seat to compensation in the Writers Guild negotiation, the union was making two key demands on the subject of automation. 2023 April 29, Noam Scheiber, John Koblin, “Will a Chatbot Write the Next ‘Succession’?”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 09 Jun 2023:
   • 2004, My Life by Bill Clinton But as with most kids, politics took a backseat to daily life.

Forms

Antonyms

take the front seat

Relateds

in the back seat · take a number · on the back burner · second fiddle · in the driver's seat