"take a back seat" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_text": "From take a seat and back seat.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes a back seat",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking a back seat",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took a back seat",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken a back seat",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> a back seat"
      },
      "expansion": "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)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "_dis1": "52 48",
      "word": "in the driver's seat"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "52 48",
      "word": "on the back burner"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "52 48",
      "word": "second fiddle"
    },
    {
      "_dis1": "52 48",
      "word": "take a number"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
            "Entry maintenance"
          ],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English light verb constructions",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "57 43",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English predicates",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "88 12",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with 1 entry",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "91 9",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Pages with entries",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The new chairman is happy to take a back seat when it comes to day-to-day operations.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To adopt a position of noninvolvement."
      ],
      "id": "en-take_a_back_seat-en-verb-x4rbVJ8z",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To adopt a position of noninvolvement."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "take the front seat"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "2004, My Life by Bill Clinton\nBut as with most kids, politics took a backseat to daily life."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 April 29, Noam Scheiber, John Koblin, “Will a Chatbot Write the Next ‘Succession’?”, in The New York Times:",
          "text": "Mr. August, a screenwriter for movies like “Charlie’s Angels” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” said that while artificial intelligence had taken a back seat to compensation in the Writers Guild negotiation, the union was making two key demands on the subject of automation.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be second to someone or something; to be less important or have a lower priority."
      ],
      "id": "en-take_a_back_seat-en-verb-SHc2uYFI",
      "links": [
        [
          "priority",
          "priority"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be second to someone or something; to be less important or have a lower priority."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-take a back seat.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/48/En-au-take_a_back_seat.ogg/En-au-take_a_back_seat.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/En-au-take_a_back_seat.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "take a back seat"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English light verb constructions",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English predicates",
    "English verbs",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From take a seat and back seat.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "takes a back seat",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taking a back seat",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "took a back seat",
      "tags": [
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "taken a back seat",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "take<,,took,taken> a back seat"
      },
      "expansion": "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)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "in the driver's seat"
    },
    {
      "word": "on the back burner"
    },
    {
      "word": "second fiddle"
    },
    {
      "word": "take a number"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "The new chairman is happy to take a back seat when it comes to day-to-day operations.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To adopt a position of noninvolvement."
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To adopt a position of noninvolvement."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    },
    {
      "antonyms": [
        {
          "word": "take the front seat"
        }
      ],
      "categories": [
        "English idioms",
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "2004, My Life by Bill Clinton\nBut as with most kids, politics took a backseat to daily life."
        },
        {
          "ref": "2017 January 14, “Thailand's new king rejects the army's proposed constitution”, in The Economist:",
          "text": "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.",
          "type": "quote"
        },
        {
          "ref": "2023 April 29, Noam Scheiber, John Koblin, “Will a Chatbot Write the Next ‘Succession’?”, in The New York Times:",
          "text": "Mr. August, a screenwriter for movies like “Charlie’s Angels” and “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” said that while artificial intelligence had taken a back seat to compensation in the Writers Guild negotiation, the union was making two key demands on the subject of automation.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To be second to someone or something; to be less important or have a lower priority."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "priority",
          "priority"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(idiomatic) To be second to someone or something; to be less important or have a lower priority."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "En-au-take a back seat.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/4/48/En-au-take_a_back_seat.ogg/En-au-take_a_back_seat.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/48/En-au-take_a_back_seat.ogg"
    }
  ],
  "word": "take a back seat"
}