on the back burner
16
5.0
- idiom
- Informal
:
en segundo plano
- Sometimes things will have to sit on the back burner while I'm working on other stories or ideas.
- put on the back burner
And my needs and my wants are on the back burner.
- And my needs and my wants are on the back burner.
- All these things add up to we're putting God on the back burner.
- So I thought Simon there maybe I could do something there and I kept it 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.
- 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.
- And so if you're not aligned with that, then that's something that you should not put on the back burner or not.
- No she's putting you on the back burner so you can give her attention when other men aren't giving her attention.
Examples
-
My grand plans for being a real reporter are kind of on the back burner.
-
When we put our own self-care on the back burner, nobody wins.
Blog text (16) -
My plans are kind of on the back burner,
-
We have to put this on the back burner right now.
-
Last month, I told her we were putting her book on the back burner.
-
Let's forget the divorce, or at least put it on the back burner for now.
Fiction book (1994) -
Since foreign policy is on the back burner for most voters, I'll focus on domestic policy.
Blog text (4) -
The Taiwan issue is on the back burner right now as it relates to domestic politics.
Academic text (2002) -
The measure, offered last year by Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., was put on the back burner but may be revived later this year.
Academic text (2003) -
We have to put this on the back burner while we focus on the urgent tasks.
Synonyms
169
2.5
Stopped for a short time until someone decides to continue
10
5.8
Put aside and not used now
Antonyms
How Urgent
337
2.9
41
3.4
- Informal
16
5.0
169
2.5
1
6.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase relies on a kitchen metaphor (placing a pot on a back burner) so its sense of deprioritising or postponing is partly inferable from 'back' + 'burner', but understanding the pragmatic extension requires cultural/figurative knowledge. This makes the expression only partially compositional and not fully predictable for a B1 learner who simply knows the constituent words.
Etymology
On the back burner comes from the kitchen. When a cook has many pots, they move one to the back burner to keep it warm but not work on it, so saying something is 'postponed' or on the back burner means it is given lower priority until later.