back door

British  

noun

1. a door at the rear or side of a building

2. 1. a means of entry to a job, position, etc, that is secret, underhand, or obtained through influence

   2. ( as modifier )

      a backdoor way of making firms pay more

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back door Idioms  

1. An entry at the rear of a building, as in Deliveries are supposed to be made at the back door only . [First half of 1500s]

2. A clandestine, unauthorized, or illegal way of operating. For example, Salesmen are constantly trying to push their products by offering special gifts through the back door . This term alludes to the fact that the back door cannot be seen from the front. [Late 1500s]

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Example Sentences

Gil hustled to the back of the store, opened the back door to the encampment, and called out to the entire population.

From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026

She said it was disappointing to see a number of hereditary peers returning to the Lords "by the back door".

From BBC • Mar. 13, 2026

Rudra Bahadur Kami returned to Nepal through a back door of Kathmandu airport in a battered coffin after working for more than a decade in Saudi Arabia to feed his family back home.

From Barron's • Feb. 16, 2026

Lunch is the less-expensive back door into Paris’s acclaimed restaurants.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 14, 2026

Akira threw open the back door and stopped dead in her tracks.

From "Two Degrees" by Alan Gratz

Related Words

• side door