back burner
noun
: the condition of being out of active consideration or development
—usually used in the phrase on the back burner
Examples of back burner in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The hospital initially promised to launch its bone marrow transplant program in a year, but that got put on the back burner.
—
Nicole Villalpando, Austin American Statesman, 5 Feb. 2026
Its implementation was put on the back burner after a texting scandal and investigation into widespread misconduct rocked the Antioch Police Department.
—Hema Sivanandam, Mercury News, 5 Feb. 2026
During this time some of its recent initiatives will be put on the back burner so that OpenAI can concentrate on shoring up its core ChatGPT product and the AI models that underpin it.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 17 Dec. 2025
With so many other competitions, such as the Premier League International Cup and UEFA Youth League, for today’s academy sides to focus on, the Premier League 2 campaign has been put on the back burner of late.
—Rob Tanner, New York Times, 12 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back burner
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Nicole Villalpando, Austin American Statesman, 5 Feb. 2026
Its implementation was put on the back burner after a texting scandal and investigation into widespread misconduct rocked the Antioch Police Department.
—Hema Sivanandam, Mercury News, 5 Feb. 2026
During this time some of its recent initiatives will be put on the back burner so that OpenAI can concentrate on shoring up its core ChatGPT product and the AI models that underpin it.
—Jeremy Kahn, Fortune, 17 Dec. 2025
With so many other competitions, such as the Premier League International Cup and UEFA Youth League, for today’s academy sides to focus on, the Premier League 2 campaign has been put on the back burner of late.
—Rob Tanner, New York Times, 12 Dec. 2025
See All Example Sentences for back burner
Cite this Entry
“Back burner.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/back%20burner. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
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