back burner
21
3.9
- noun
- Informal
- Let's forget the divorce, or at least put it on the back burner for now.
- put on the back burner
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Watch on YouTubeFor me, the back burner is only reserved for things that I don't have the money to make yet.
- For me, the back burner is only reserved for things that I don't have the money to make yet.
- And the few times in our lives where we've let that kind of go to the back burner, we've seen our lives kind of fall apart.
- And my needs and my wants are on the back burner.
- But when you do a sequel, all those worries and concerns are, you know, the back burner.
- So I thought Simon there maybe I could do something there and I kept it on the back burner.
- All these things add up to we're putting God on the back burner.
- Because short of that, you can live your whole life kind of, you know, babysitting these character defects on the back burner.
- No she's putting you on the back burner so you can give her attention when other men aren't giving her attention.
- All of these up here though, we want to put off or back burner or maybe even never do for let's say years.
- And so if you're not aligned with that, then that's something that you should not put on the back burner or not.
- And that's been a problem of censorship and kind of put me on the back burner and keeping me at Bay publicly.
- It appeared that these had been placed on the back burner and still ever so present.
Examples
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When we put our own self-care on the back burner, nobody wins.
Blog text (16) -
Due to budget constraints, many initiatives have been placed on the back burner until further notice.
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Or will it fall on the back burner because demand for it was never made clear?
Blog text (14) -
You were told to keep this on the back burner.
Fiction book (1991) -
Then it's straight to the back burner until the next election cycle.
Blog text (21) -
Since foreign policy is on the back burner for most voters, I'll focus on domestic policy.
Blog text (4) -
Sometimes things will have to sit on the back burner while I'm working on other stories or ideas.
Blog text (12) -
It's not easy, but I'm trying to keep romance on the back burner.
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The Taiwan issue is on the back burner right now as it relates to domestic politics.
Academic text (2002) -
For these reasons, the dollarization option has been pushed onto the back burner during the current crisis.
Academic text (2001)
Synonyms
16
5.0
Kept for later and given lower priority
11
5.8
Put aside and not used now
Antonyms
How Important
Surface Forms
Morphology
back + burner
The sense 'low priority, deferred' is a metaphorical extension from the literal parts: 'back' (position behind) + 'burner' (stove element). A learner who knows both words may guess it means something placed behind or less foregrounded, but linking that to the specific notion of postponement requires cultural/cooking knowledge and is not fully predictable from the constituents alone.
Etymology
Back burner comes from cooking: the back burner of a stove is used to keep food warm and out of the way while the front burners are for the main cooking. So, when you put a task on the back burner, you give it 'lower priority' or 'delay' it.