back seat

noun

ˈbak-ˈsēt 

variants or less commonly backseat

1

: a seat in the back (as of an automobile)

2

: a secondary or inferior position

… the issues and concerns that have sometimes been given a back seat …

—Al Gore

see also take a back seat

Examples of back seat in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Johns, who was in a four-door sedan, allegedly fired a single shot from a handgun at a hybrid SUV driven by the victim's stepfather, identified as Valente Ayala -- hitting the 11-year-old sitting in the back seat, police said. —Megan Forrester, ABC News, 18 Nov. 2025

When the safe wouldn't fit, the thieves tried the back seat. —Adam Harrington, CBS News, 18 Nov. 2025

Following the exchange, a 22-year-old suspect, whom the Henderson Police Department identified to PEOPLE as Tyler Matthew Johns, fired a single shot from a handgun into the vehicle, which struck the boy, who was sitting in the back seat of the vehicle. —Amy McCarthy, PEOPLE, 15 Nov. 2025

While pumpkin pie spice tends to be very cinnamon-forward, cinnamon takes more of a back seat in Spicewalla’s chai masala, which packs more heat than pumpkin spice thanks to the pepper and cloves included in the mix. —Alana Al-Hatlani, Southern Living, 13 Nov. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1715, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for back seat

• amit
• athlete
• backseat
• blackfeet
• broadsheet
• browbeat
• buckwheat
• compete
• compleat
• complete
• conceit
• concrete