back-seat driver
back-seat driver noun: an occupant of a large vehicle, such as a firetruck, who helps steer the vehicle from far in the back.
Noun
back-seat driver (plural back-seat drivers)
- An occupant of a large vehicle, such as a firetruck, who helps steer the vehicle from far in the back.
- When New York pitcher Vernon Gomez retires as a smokeballer he wants to become a smoke eater. Here he gets a tryout as a back-seat driver on a hook and ladder truck at St. Petersburg[…]1914, Daily Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine, USA
- A person sitting (typically) in the back seat of a car issuing (unsolicited and usually unwanted) instructions to the driver.
- Synonyms:
- nagavator
- An opinionated person who offers (unsolicited and often unwanted) advice on the best way to handle a situation.
Synonyms of back-seat driver
Forms of back-seat driver
| plural | back-seat drivers |
|---|---|
| alternative form | backseat driver |
Questions about back-seat driver
- What does back-seat driver mean?
- Back-seat driver means an occupant of a large vehicle, such as a firetruck, who helps steer the vehicle from far in the back.
- What part of speech is back-seat driver?
- Back-seat driver is a noun.
- What is the plural of back-seat driver?
- The plural of back-seat driver is back-seat drivers.
Words near back-seat driver in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: back-seat driver (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-back-seat driver.wav.
Cite this entry: “back-seat driver.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/back-seat_driver. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.