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take a back seat. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
take a back seat, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
take a back seat in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From take a seat and back seat.
Pronunciation
Verb
take a back seat (third-person singular simple present takes a back seat, present participle taking a back seat, simple past took a back seat, past participle taken a back seat)
- (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.
- (idiomatic) To be second to someone or something; to be less important or have a lower priority.
- Antonym: take the front seat
- 2004, My Life by Bill Clinton
- But as with most kids, politics took a backseat to daily life.
2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist: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.
2023 April 29, Noam Scheiber, John Koblin, “Will a Chatbot Write the Next ‘Succession’?”, in The New York Times: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.
See also