take a back seat
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
Be given a less important position or role.
Nghĩa · Tiếng Việt
được giao vị trí hoặc vai trò ít quan trọng hơn
Machine-translated — suggest a fix
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Foreign policy will take a back seat while Clinton sorts out domestic problems.
Branch manager Richard Fairhurst took a back seat for the day, as he rode along on the back of a tandem.
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: Euphemism (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “take a back seat” mean?
Be given a less important position or role.
Is “take a back seat” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.