Idiom
Back burner
If something is on the back burner, it has been put aside for now because other things are more important.
How people use it
The usual phrases are put something on the back burner and be on the back burner: we put the patio project on the back burner until spring. It means postponed, not canceled, so the plan may come back later. The opposite is front burner, for an urgent priority. It is informal but common in business talk. Some Americans also use back-burner as a verb: they back-burnered the idea.
Also said: on the back burner, put on the back burner.
Examples
- With the baby coming, Leo put his plans for a home gym on the back burner.
- The company moved the new app to the back burner to fix customer complaints first.
- My novel has been on the back burner for years, but I still think about it.
Where it comes from
It comes from cooking on a stove with several burners. Pots that need little attention, such as a simmering soup, go on the back, while the cook works on the front burners. The figurative phrase appeared in American English around the middle of the 1900s.
Check yourself
1. What does it mean to put a project on the back burner?
Answer: To delay it while other things come first. On the back burner means postponed for now, not finished or canceled.
2. Which sentence uses the idiom correctly?
Answer: We put the garden redesign on the back burner until we save more money.. The idiom means setting something aside for later, so an urgent job fixed right away does not fit.
Similar idioms
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