What does backseat mean?
A backseat is the seat at the rear of a vehicle, most commonly the back row of a car where passengers sit behind the driver. Beyond this literal meaning, the word carries a well-established figurative sense: to 'take a backseat' means to assume a subordinate or less prominent role, stepping aside so that someone else leads or takes charge. This figurative usage is widespread in professional, political, and everyday speech, lending the word a connotation of deference, withdrawal, or reduced influence rather than any negative judgment. Closely related is the expression 'backseat driver,' which humorously describes a passenger who offers unwanted advice about how to drive — and by extension anyone who meddles in matters not their own. Written almost universally as a single word, backseat is a compact example of how a concrete object from motoring life evolved into a versatile metaphor for power dynamics and participation.
The rear seat of a vehicle, especially an automobile; also, figuratively, a subordinate or less prominent position.
"She preferred riding in the backseat so she could read during the journey."
Figurative use is nearly always rendered as the single closed compound 'backseat', as in 'take a backseat'.
(figurative) A position of reduced involvement, authority, or visibility relative to others.
"With the new director in place, marketing took a backseat to product development."
The plural typically refers to multiple literal rear seats across vehicles; the figurative sense is usually uncountable and rarely pluralized.
"Both cars have spacious backseats."
A word born from car seats ended up describing office politics — 'taking a backseat' now has nothing to do with sitting down at all.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of backseat
Backseat is a straightforward English compound formed from 'back' and 'seat', emerging alongside the mass adoption of the automobile in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The underlying element 'seat' derives from Old Norse 'sæti', related to the act of sitting, which ultimately connects it to the Indo-European root *sed- ('to sit') shared with Latin 'sedere'. That same Latin verb gives us cognates such as 'sedentary', 'session', and 'supersede'. Its figurative use grew naturally from the image of passengers seated behind the driver, those without control of the vehicle.
Related word forms
How backseat is actually used
Almost always written as one word when used figuratively ('take a backseat'), though the two-word form remains common for the literal car part. The figurative sense is informal-to-neutral in register and frequently appears in business, politics, and sports contexts.
Easily confused with backseat
The two-word 'back seat' refers strictly to the physical rear seat of a vehicle, while the one-word 'backseat' is the standard closed compound used both literally and figuratively, as in 'take a backseat'.