back seat

See also: back-seat and backseat

English

Alternative forms

• back-seat, backseat

Etymology

back +‎ seat

Noun

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

• backseat (verb)
• back-seat driver, backseat driver
• back-seat driving
• backseater
• back-seat gamer, backseat gamer
• back-seat gaming
• back-seat moderator, backseat moderator
• take a back seat

 

Translations

seat

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 後座／后座 (zh) (hòuzuò)

• Danish: bagsæde (da) n
• Dutch: achterbank (nl) f
• Finnish: takapenkki, takaistuin
• French: siège arrière (fr) m
• German: Rücksitz (de) m
• Hungarian: hátsó ülés (hu)
• Icelandic: aftursæti (is) n
• Irish: suíochán deiridh m
• Japanese: 後部座席 (こうぶざせき, kōbu zaseki), バックシート (bakkushīto)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: baksete (no) n

  Nynorsk: baksete n

• Polish: tylne siedzenie n
• Portuguese: banco traseiro m, banco de trás m, garupa (pt) f
• Russian: за́днее сиде́ние n (zádneje sidénije)
• Spanish: asiento trasero m
• Swedish: baksäte (sv) n

position

• Finnish: takapenkki
• Icelandic: áhrifalítil staða f, valdalítil staða f
• Spanish: segundón (es)

Anagrams

• back east, seatback, set aback