on the back burner

on the back burner: meaning and explanation

If something is on the back burner, then it is not urgent - it is not a high priority issue for you, and you are not going to consider it or act on it at this time. You may come back to it in the future, but you have other, higher priority issues to focus on at the moment.

It may help you to know that this idiom comes from cooking - if you are multi-tasking and have something urgent or important to work on, then you will probably have that cooking close to you at the front. Less important or lower priority things can be left at the back.

As well as being used to genuinely say that you will consider something later, this idiom may be used as a polite way to reject an idea proposed by someone. Instead of just saying 'no', you're saying 'thank you, maybe later'. This can be a useful way to avoid embarrassing someone.

This idiom tends to be used with put, leave, keep and stay. If you put sth on the back burner, then you are deciding that it is a low priority issue. If you leave/keep sth on the back burner or want it to stay on the back burner, then you are deciding that something continues to be a low priority issue.

Have a go at these micro-dictation exercises to hear this expression being used in context – how much can you understand?

Listening exercises

Dictation #1

Accent: Scotland

Dictation #2

Accent: North America

Dictation #3

Accent: England (RP)

Extra practice

Here are some questions/links to help you learn the new vocabulary:

• Have you ever been frustrated to have a project you were working on get put on the back burner? How did you deal with this?
• How do individuals or teams decide when to place a task or project on the back burner versus when to prioritise it?
• If something has been put on the back burner, how can it be brought back into focus at the right time?

Photo by John Legrand on Unsplash