Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Chiefly British The rear benches in the House of Commons where junior members of Parliament sit behind government officeholders and their counterparts in the opposition party.
- n. New members of Congress considered as a group: "a revolt of the backbench fueled by a powerful lobbying campaign” ( Washington Post).
Wiktionary
- n. politics, UK, New Zealand 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 rank-and-file members.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. any of the seats occupied by backbenchers in the House of Commons of Great Britain.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of the seats occupied by backbenchers in the House of Commons
Etymologies
- From back + bench. (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Frontbenchers must all work to sustain backbench morale, they were told, even by making their share of backbench speeches outside their own responsibilities.”
The Guardian: Political briefing: Solid start for Ed Miliband, but he has a long way to go
“All petitions hitting the landmark total are referred to the backbench business committee, which decides certain motions for Parliamentary debates.”
“I can't recall another backbench initiative like this in recent times.”
“My own view is that 'backbench' councillors are well paid, but Board Members earn every penny.”
“The elder statesman in May left Singapore's cabinet, where he served as minister mentor, and, while still a member of Parliament, he has moved to the backbench, reserved for less-influential policy makers.”
The Wall Street Journal: Illness Underscores Singapore Transition
“Pick some working class backbench nomark to generate some headlines and let the real culprits sneak out of town (To Washington DC to meet Obama on Tuesday to be precise)”
“As for the Tories, backbench interventions showed that many of them have bought into the Blair/Bush ‘War on Terror’ even more strongly than their Labour counterparts.”
“On the one hand, backbench members and talk radio yakkers have an incentive, at least given the demonstrated conservative market, to stake out the most extreme position, so that whatever the speaker does winds up being defined as weak-kneed mush given, again, the obvious fact that Boehner can't actually get this stuff enacted into law.”
The Washington Post: Will Tea Partyers buy the constitutional amendment con?
“It seems to me that Gordon Brown just hid his distaste for the old-Etonian better than his backbench colleague.”
“As he later wrote as a backbench blogger for the Guardian see panel no PM or opposition leader who was "slow-witted, corrupt or simply not up to the job" would survive.”
The Guardian: Why we should cherish prime minister's questions | Michael White
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘backbench’.
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back phrases/hyphens/compounds
backache to backyard
back-ache, back-aching, back-acter, back-acting, back-answer, back-bar, back-basket, back beat, back-bias, back-blast, back-blowing, back-boiler and 342 more...
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Rillons of Random Palavery
A list for terms and phrases that I haven't (yet) entered into themed lists, including my series of various 151-word Random Palavery lists. Constructions that catch my eye, ring in my ears, tease m...
ridge cucumber, co-CEO, debt worry, jackalope bustiere, gimblette, ring-biscuit, cobnut, poussoir, praire, coque rayée, rigadelle, coing and 1459 more...
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