take a back seat

Verb

take a back seat (third-person singular simple present takes a back seat, present participle taking a back seat, simple past took a back seat, past participle taken a back seat)

1. (idiomatic) To adopt a position of noninvolvement.
   • The new chairman is happy to take a back seat when it comes to day-to-day operations.
2. (idiomatic) To be second to someone or something; to be less important or have a lower priority.
   • But as with most kids, politics took a backseat to daily life.2004, My Life by Bill Clinton
   • The bluntness of King Vajiralongkorn's intervention—and the determination it reveals to resist relatively small checks on royal power—is both a snub to the junta and a worry for democrats, some of whom had dared hope that the new king might be happy to take a back seat in public life.2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist, archived from the original on 15 Aug 2020

   Antonyms:

   take the front seat