backburner

B3A1C3K5B3U1R1N1E1R1

verb

To relegate to a lower priority.

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Meanings

nounbackburner (countable and uncountable, plural backburners)

plural backburners

  1. alternativecountableuncountableAlternative form of back burner.

    There had been plans to extend electrification from Harrow to Rickmansworth. But when the First World War broke out in 1914, this and a new branch to Watford were placed on the backburner, along with further housing development.

    2024 January 24, Stefanie Foster, “Metro-land's legacy for today's railway”, in RAIL, number 1001, page 57
verbbackburner (third-person singular simple present backburners, present participle backburnering, simple past and past participle backburnered)

present singular third person backburners · participle present backburnering · participle past backburnered · past backburnered

  1. idiomaticinformaltransitiveTo relegate to a lower priority.

    "What I noticed was that my sadness and loneliness got backburnered," she told the BBC.

    2013, Lorna Stewart, BBC News, Love letters and kindness may improve mental health

Origin

From back + burner.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

German zurückstellen
  • zurückstellento relegate to a lower priority
Cite this entry
APA

backburner. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backburner

MLA

“backburner.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backburner. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “backburner,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/backburner.

Source: backburner on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.