Word.ws English Dictionary

backbench

backbench adjective: relating to the back benches in parliament.

Adjective

backbench (not comparable)

  1. relating to the back benches in parliament
    • He prefers to be a backbench MP.
    • Oh, Bernard, we can't have foreign policy made by yobbos like Fleet Street editors or backbench MPs!1986 January 23, Antony Jay, Jonathan Lynn, “The Smoke Screen”, in Yes, Prime Minister, season 1, episode 3, spoken by Humphrey Appleby (Nigel Hawthorne)
  2. Pertaining to the preparation of a donor organ prior to transplantation.
    • Cold preservation is a component of the donor organ resection procedure, not the backbench preparation.2009, Michelle Green, 3-2-1 Code It!, →ISBN, page 523
    • Regardless of the origin of the kidney graft, LD or deceased donor, backbench preparation for robotic implantation follows some specific steps.2013, A. Osama Gaber, Current Topics in Transplantation, An Issue of Surgical Clinics, →ISBN
  3. Secondary or inactive.
    • In contrast, the less able, the backbench players, tend to stick around, and if they're in a position of power, they are also inclined to hire and promote other also-rans or, worse, people incapable of even finishing the race.2011, Jack Griffin, How to Say It: Be Indispensable at Work, →ISBN
    • In view of this, it is clear why internet service providers (ISPs) are inclined to play a backbench role when it comes to combating file sharing.2012, S. Allegrezza, A. Dubrocard, Internet Econometrics, →ISBN

Noun

backbench (plural backbenches)

  1. A bench at the back of a room or seating area.
    • But no one was waiting at the backbench and the older fellow looked as if he had dug in to stay.2003, Charles Mitchell, Hues of Tokyo: Tales of Today's Japan, →ISBN, page 169
    • Some other playgoers are supping on the day's pottage at the backbenches nearby, some with a glass of reddish everyday plonk.2006, CJ Becker, The Dream of America: As Seen from Saracen's Head Tavern, →ISBN
    1. (New Zealand, UK, attributive, often) In a house of legislature following the model of the Westminster system (such as the UK House of Commons), any bench behind either of the front benches and occupied by members of each party group who are not party leaders, cabinet ministers, holders of offices such as the whips, etc.
      • His spacious quarters indicate his transition from backbench upstart to established member of the governing team.
      • There was no separate back-bench organization ; indeed there were no back-bench caucuses in any Nigerian Legislative House, and any attempt to create one would probably have been regarded by the leadership concerned as a subversive move.1963, Richard L. Sklar, Nigerian Political Parties: Power in an Emergent African Nation, published 2004, page 400
    2. The back row of a classroom.
      • The petitioner who was a student of Class X was in the backbench when a lady teacher was teaching there.1981, Arun Bhattacharjee, Misconduct of Students: A Legal and Disciplinary Study, page 82
      • For students who are seriously interested in studies, the front row gives them good proximity to the teacher, while for the students who want to avoid studying, the backbenches are good.2006, Harsh V. Verma, Brand Management: Text and Cases, →ISBN, page 126
    3. The back pew of a church.
      • Through this two-year, transcontinental colloquy, through this vast outpouring of personal sentiments and reactions from poor homes and rich, from backwoods cabins and metropolitan penthouses, from the young and old, from dubious backbench sitters and busy pillars of the congregations, from the...1972, Douglas W. Johnson, George W. Cornell, Punctured Preconceptions: what North American Christians Think about the Church
      • We settled Gord with Thea, Jim and Jane in the backbench of church, then joined him there.2005, Elaine Bonzelaar, Those First Two Years, →ISBN, page 209
    4. A back bench in a courtroom.
      • Seated on the backbench of the courtroom, Emerald had mixed feelings.2001, Pearl Ayi-Bonte, Almost Like Love: The Love that Never was, page 17
      • When they entered the courtroom Lawna noticed her father sitting lonely in the backbench.2009, Ian J. Findlay, Saunie Brown, Women: the New Doggs, →ISBN, page 38
    5. The back seat of an automobile, van, or bus.
      • They scooted into a double seat near the rear and noticed that even with four people squeezed into the backbench, they had been lucky to find the last empty places.2003, Virginia Kreimeyer, Sins of the Fathers, →ISBN, page 15
      • Chet and Wende looked helplessly at each other on the backbench of the Ford van.2003, Coby Derek James, Mugged in Marseilles, →ISBN, page 5
  2. A position of secondary importance.
    • Niger, as a country belongs to the backbench of African soccer.1994, Citizen - Volume 5, Issues 1-8, page 41
    • In other words, they were put on the proverbial backbench.2010, Ezra E. H. Griffith, Ye Shall Dream: Patriarch Granville Williams and the Barbados Spiritual Baptists, page 180
  3. (newspaper) A group of top-level journalists who jointly review submissions and decide on the layout and emphasis of the newspaper.
    • A good spread could be allotted on a news page if the dead person was deemed worthy by the powerful and sceptical members of the “backbench” of the senior sub-editors.1996, David Twiston-Davies, Canada from Afar: The Daily Telegraph Book of Canadian Obituaries, →ISBN
    • The attitude of the Observer backbench when I filed the story the following sunday showed how happy my sub-editing colleagues from the previous winter were with my feat.2006, Ken Haley, Emails from the Edge: A Journey Through Troubled Times, →ISBN, page 17

Examples of backbench in a sentence

  • Both Thatcher's and Major's PPSs developed the role of trying to see that those members considered loyal to the leadership won the main positions on backbench party committees.1995, R. L. Borthwick, Churchill to Major: The British Prime Ministership Since 1945, page 153:
  • In fall 1984, Brian Mulroney led a cabinet with far more political experience than the Conservative backbench.1997, David Campbell Docherty, Mr. Smith Goes to Ottawa: Life in the House of Commons:
  • She slipped into a seat in the backbench and pulled out her casebook, notebook and Crim Law outline.2014, Fnu Lnu, Crimson Blood, →ISBN, page 279:
  • After lunch, I joined my group at the backbench for the next class.2015, Kumar Ravi, The Backbench Masti-keers, →ISBN, page 2015:

Forms of backbench

Adjective
alternative formback bench
alternative formback-bench
Noun
pluralbackbenches

Origin of backbench

From back + bench.

Questions about backbench

What does backbench mean?
Backbench means relating to the back benches in parliament.
How do you use backbench in a sentence?
Both Thatcher's and Major's PPSs developed the role of trying to see that those members considered loyal to the leadership won the main positions on backbench party committees.
What part of speech is backbench?
Backbench can be an adjective or a noun.

Words near backbench in the dictionary

  1. backbeaches
  2. backbearing
  3. backbearings
  4. backbeat
  5. backbeats
  6. backbench
  7. backbencher
  8. backbenchers
  9. backbenches
  10. backbend
  11. backbended

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backbench (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.

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