back seat

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See also: back-seat and backseat

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From back +‎ seat.

Noun

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back seat (plural back seats)

  1. Any of the seats in the rear of a vehicle.
    Synonym: rearseat
    Coordinate term: front seat
    • 2011, Rebecca Black featuring Patrice Wilson, Friday
      Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends
      Kickin' in the front seat
      Sittin' in the back seat
      Gotta make my mind up
      Which seat can I take?
  2. (informal, especially in the expression take a back seat) A lesser or inferior position; a position of deliberate noninvolvement, in which decision-making or leadership is left to others.
    • 2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist[1]:
      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.

Derived terms

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