back room

American  

Or backroom

noun

back rooms plural

1. a room located in the rear, especially one used only by certain people.

2. a place where powerful or influential persons, especially politicians, meet to plan secretly or from which they exercise control in an indirect manner.

   The candidate for mayor was chosen in the precincts' back rooms.

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back room British  

noun

1. 1. a place where research or planning is done, esp secret research in wartime

   2. ( as modifier )

      back-room boys

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• back rooms
  plural

Etymology

Origin of back room

First recorded in 1585–95

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

back room

They met at his penthouse in San Francisco’s Russian Hill neighborhood, at a private back room in a bar in North Beach and at the W Hotel in Los Angeles, she writes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026

The family lived in a back room of the establishment.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 13, 2026

When Dann moved into a back room with more space, Tracy and I were left with our own bedrooms.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 10, 2026

After East L.A. deputies arrived at the crime scene, Rivera told them she and Gonzalez had been in a back room of his family’s home when they heard someone shouting for his older brother, Vidal.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 18, 2025

Due to the stench and what our mother referred to as "one small scrap of dignity," my sisters and I rarely entered the back room.

From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris