back seat

plural back seats · alternative back-seat · alternative backseat

1. Any of the seats in the rear of a vehicle.

   2011, Rebecca Black featuring Patrice Wilson, Friday Gotta catch my bus, I see my friends Kickin' in the front seat Sittin' in the back seat Gotta make my mind up Which seat can I take?

   Synonyms: rearseat

2. especiallyinformalA lesser or inferior position; a position of deliberate noninvolvement, in which decision-making or leadership is left to others.

   The bluntness of King Vajiralongkorn's intervention—and the determination it reveals to resist relatively small checks on royal power—is both a snub to the junta and a worry for democrats, some of whom had dared hope that the new king might be happy to take a back seat in public life.

   2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist