Word.ws English Dictionary

backseat driver

backseat driver is the alternative form of back-seat driver.

Meaning of back-seat driver

Noun

back-seat driver (plural back-seat drivers)

  1. (dated) 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
  2. A person sitting (typically) in the back seat of a car issuing (unsolicited and usually unwanted) instructions to the driver.
    Synonyms:
    nagavator
  3. (figuratively) An opinionated person who offers (unsolicited and often unwanted) advice on the best way to handle a situation.

Forms of backseat driver

pluralbackseat drivers

Questions about backseat driver

What is backseat driver the alternative form of?
Backseat driver is the alternative form of back-seat driver.

Words near backseat driver in the dictionary

  1. backscratchings
  2. backscreen
  3. backscreens
  4. backscroll
  5. backseat
  6. backseat driver
  7. backseat drivers
  8. backseat gamer
  9. backseat gamers
  10. backseat moderator
  11. backseated

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backseat driver (page history and authors); 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:

Cite this entry: “backseat driver.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backseat_driver. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.