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definitions

back number

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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR back number ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

an out-of-date issue of a serial publication.
Informal. anything out-of-date.

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RELATED WORDS

old, out-of-date, obsolete, archaic, antiquated, outmoded, antique, age-old, venerable, hoary, old-fashioned, timeworn, antediluvian, bygone, elderly, fossil, relic, aged, remote, oldie

Nearby words

  1. back marker,
  2. back matter,
  3. back molding,
  4. back mutation,
  5. back nine,
  6. back o' beyond,
  7. back o' bourke,
  8. back of,
  9. back of beyond,
  10. back of bourke

Origin of back number

An Americanism dating back to 1805–15
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for back number

British Dictionary definitions for back number

back number

noun

an issue of a newspaper, magazine, etc, that appeared on a previous date
informal a person or thing considered to be old-fashioned
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
Idioms and Phrases with back number

back number

Dated, out of style. For example, That hat is really a back number, or The game has changed so fast that a player who returns to the circuit after several years' absence usually finds he or she is a back number. This term originally referred to back issues of periodicals, which are no longer newsworthy. [Late 1800s]

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.