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Glite Dictionary
🪨 Filling material 🪨 To fill a hole 🗂️ To add missing data 👤 To fill a vacancy
to backfill

to backfill

1 4.8
To fill an open job by hiring or assigning another person
  • verb
  • /ˈbækˌfɪl/
  • Jargon
translation icon : cubrir
  • Oh yeah, I get to work a lot of that non-paid overtime too, especially now since people are retiring and not being backfilled.

And so if you block one very lucky individuals can backfill from another one of the, you know, circuits.

Examples

  • The company will need to backfill the vacant positions quickly to maintain productivity.

  • The other consequences have been an adverse effect on the consultant psychiatrists' business and the inability to backfill the appointment for which the patient has not attended.

    Blog text (13)

  • To play "backseat driver" here, I would have taken Diplomatic Security agents from locations that do allow contractors and moved them to Libya; then, I would have backfilled those with contractors.

    Blog text (9)

  • After several employees left, the manager decided to backfill the roles temporarily until new hires were made.

  • To ensure that all shifts are covered, we must backfill for those who will be away on vacation.

Synonyms

to fill
vsto backfill
396 3.0

To choose someone for a job or role

is used when placing a replacement often temporarily rather than a permanent appointment
to fill in
vsto backfill
100 3.3

Do someone else's job for a short time

is about assigning or hiring a replacement rather than doing the work personally

Antonyms

to dismiss
70 3.3

To remove someone from their job

to vacate
52 4.5

Leave a place or job so it is free for someone else

Surface Forms

backfill infinitive
backfilled past
backfilled past participle
backfilling present participle
backfills third person singular

Morphology

backfill = fill (semi-transparent) = back + fill

The staffing sense is a metaphorical extension of physically filling a gap (filling a vacancy), so the relation to the components is inferable but figurative. [Postprocessing: moved 'back' from base_words to prefix]

Etymology

Backfill comes from the parts back ('behind' or 'again') and fill ('to make full'), so it can mean 'fill back' a role that is empty. That's why companies say they will backfill a job when they hire or assign someone to replace or cover a person who left.