on the back burner

idiom

chiefly US

: in the position of something that will not receive immediate attention and action

She put her singing career on the back burner to pursue her dream of being a movie star.

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web

Amid the fallout, Netflix put the Smith movie Fast and Loose on the back burner. —Aaron Couch, The Hollywood Reporter, 3 Oct. 2022

In today’s environment, putting skills development or career progression on the back burner can have dire consequences. —Alyssa Merwin, Forbes, 15 Mar. 2022

But the series—in which the 26-year-old Carnegie Mellon grad played 1970s rocker Graham Dunne—was a smash, and his Lincoln Center Theater play, The Coast Starlight, wowed the critics, so a music career may be on the back burner for now. —Adam Rathe, Town & Country, 28 Apr. 2023

Adding in specialized training in navigating financial decision making, financial anxiety, or financial stress, shrinks that pool even further–leaving those issues unresolved or put on the back burner for a qualified professional to address later. —Rahkim Sabree, Cfei®, Rfc®, Forbes, 1 Apr. 2023

Covid-19 While most Americans have put Covid-19 vaccines on the back burner, health officials in the US are now weighing whether to offer another round of bivalent boosters for people at high risk of infection, according to a source familiar with the deliberations. —Alexandra Meeks, CNN, 22 Mar. 2023

After some years sweating on the back burner of show business, Ms. Brier, 28, has found instant success on the social media platform of the moment, TikTok. —Alexandra Jacobs, New York Times, 14 Mar. 2023

Spend more time with family and friends, and maybe tinker on a few projects which have sat on the back burner for way too long. —Brandon Livesay, Peoplemag, 3 Mar. 2023

Of course, there’s also a new baby to tend to and work piling up, which can put relationship maintenance on the back burner. —Elaine Welteroth, Anchorage Daily News, 18 Feb. 2023

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