Back burner meaning: postponed for now
On the back burner means postponed. It's set aside because something else is more urgent, and the plan is to come back to it later. The picture is a pot left to simmer at the back of the stove.
Last updated
Filed under O jargon.
What on the back burner means
Set aside, still warm
On the back burner means put off for now because something else is more urgent. The work hasn’t been canceled. Offices also turn it into a verb, as in “the project got backburnered”.
The opposite is the front burner, where the urgent work cooks. That’s your WIP, the work in progress.
How offices use it
Offices say back burner to pause work politely. A project that loses its budget for a quarter goes there. So does anything that has to wait until a launch is out. Circle back is close, but it puts off a conversation. On the back burner, the work itself waits.
Back burner, shelved or parked
Shelved, parked and on hold all mean nearly the same as on the back burner. British offices also kick an idea into the long grass. That’s a back burner where the cook hopes everyone forgets the pot.
How many people say it
A quarter of Australian office workers
In Australia, 24.5% of office workers say they use “backburner”. That puts it 18th of 41 phrases. The survey tested 42, but only 41 had a published share.
| Australian office workers who say | Share |
|---|---|
| Touch base | 48.4% |
| Synergy | 9.8% |
Fewer young workers know it
In the UK, younger workers are less likely than older ones to be able to explain it.
| UK workers who could explain “put it on the back burner” | Share |
|---|---|
| Gen Z | 29.3% |
| Gen X | 55.5% |
The back burner, decoded
Where projects wait
A parked project turns up in every quarterly review as “still on the back burner”. That’s a status update with no update in it. After two reviews, the person who pushed for it has usually moved teams.
Paused or dead
A real pause has an owner and a date to look at it again, and everyone knows why it stopped. Take any of that away and the project is dead. If it’s your work on hold, ask which month it comes back.
Dreaded tasks slide onto the back burner by default. The eat the frog rule exists to break that habit.
People on the back burner
People get put on the back burner too, like a candidate told their resume will be kept on file. In dating, it’s the person someone texts when nothing better comes up.
Writing the pause down
If you’re pausing the work, say what, why and until when: “We’re pausing the intranet refresh until October 1, because the launch needs the whole team.” Anyone can check a line like that on October 1. Leave the date out, and the refresh can be buried without anyone announcing it.
Where the back burner comes from
The stove at the back
The phrase comes from a gas stove. Stocks and sauces that need hours simmer on the back burners, while the cook does the quick, hot work at the front.
| Back burner | First on record |
|---|---|
| Burner, the heating part of a gas stove | By 1885 |
| The figurative sense, by one dictionary | Late 1940s |
| The figurative sense, by another | By 1960 |
| The first person to say it about a project | Not found |
A message with on the back burner
Subject: Intranet refresh, update
Hi all, leadership has asked us to put the intranet refresh
on the back burneron hold with no date while everyone works on the Q3 launch. Thanks for the designs so far. I’ll share a new timeline once we have one.
On the back burner in a sentence
The rebrand is on the back burner until funding comes through.
Put the intranet redesign on the back burner, Joaquin. The client launch comes first.
Hiring a second designer is on the back burner, Eleni, until the budget is signed off.
My Spanish course has been on the back burner since the reorg, Nell, along with lunch breaks.
Questions about on the back burner
What does something being on the back burner mean?
It's been postponed. Nobody is working on it, but it hasn't been canceled. It waits until the urgent work is done, or until someone with a budget remembers it.
What does backburner mean in Gen Z?
A backburner is a person someone keeps for later: not a priority now, but not dropped either. It's the dictionary sense of on the back burner, applied to a person instead of a project.
Where does the phrase back burner come from?
From cooking on a gas stove: a sauce that needs hours goes to a rear burner, and the urgent cooking happens at the front. Burner, for the heating part of a gas stove, is on record by 1885. One dictionary dates the figurative sense to the late 1940s, and another has it by 1960.
What is a synonym for back burner?
Postpone, shelve, put on hold, park and set aside all come close. British English also says kick something into the long grass, which means delaying it and hoping everyone forgets.
Sources
The 9 sources behind this page
- Cambridge Dictionary: ON THE BACK BURNER | English meaning
- Wiktionary: backburner
- Cambridge Dictionary: KICK SOMETHING INTO THE LONG GRASS | English meaning
- Reckon: Australia's most hated corporate jargon
- Careerminds UK: Gen Z employees understand hardly any office jargon, new Careerminds research reveals
- Wiktionary: back burner
- Etymonline: burner
- Etymonline: back
- Dictionary.com: Back Burner Definition & Meaning