Meanings
present singular third person rides on the back of · participle present riding on the back of · past rode on the back of · participle past ridden on the back of
- idiomatictransitiveTo make use of; to take advantage of.
But now vaccine doubt is spreading faster and further than ever through social media, and populist rightwing politicians in Europe and the US are riding on the back of a wave of mistrust of vaccine science.
2018 December 21, Sarah Boseley, Angela Giuffrida, Christian Davies, Angelique Chrisafis, Oksana Grytsenko, “Rightwing populists ride wave of mistrust of vaccine science”, in The Guardian1 more example
Residential C-banders have been, and will continue to ride on the back of commercial C-band technology. And with millions of dollars' worth of C-band birdies orbiting our planet, I believe it is highly unlikely the programming choices will become reduced.
2006 January 30, Maxodyne, “Re: 4DTV Future 2006”, in alt.video.satellite.4dtv (Usenet)
Cite this entry
ride on the back of. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ride%20on%20the%20back%20of
“ride on the back of.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ride%20on%20the%20back%20of. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ride on the back of,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ride%20on%20the%20back%20of.
Source: ride on the back of on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.