English · Idiom Attested

on the back burner

In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.

Both English Tiếng Việt

Meaning · English

Having low priority.

Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt

Có ưu tiên thấp

Machine-translated — suggest a fix

Where it’s used: Used Widespread English

Examples

I think we're going to need to put this project on the back burner for a little while.

When faster music does at last arrive for the ‘ Magic Carillon’ and the ‘ Infernal Dance,’its energy splutters ineffectually on the back burner.

British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)

Sources & notes

Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).

Common questions

What does “on the back burner” mean?

Having low priority.

Is “on the back burner” formal or informal?

No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.

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