back burner

noun

a condition of low priority or temporary deferment (usually used in the phrase on the back burner): Put other issues on the back burner until after the election.

Origin of back burner

First recorded in 1945–50; from the custom in cooking of placing pots not requiring immediate attention toward the rear of the stove

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for back-burner

abeyance, limbo, suspension

Examples from the Web for back-burner

Contemporary Examples of back-burner

Denzel Washington in Philadelphia: “There was something like that [with Philadelphia] where I was on the back-burner.”
Bill Murray’s Words of Wisdom: On Comedy, the Greatness of In-N-Out, and Searching For Great Love
Marlow Stern
October 10, 2014

British Dictionary definitions for back-burner

back burner

noun

on the back burner put aside for the time being, as a subject that is not of immediate concern but that may be activated later; postponed

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012