back to back

adverb

1. (of two similar events) following one immediately after the other; in unbroken sequence; consecutively.

   After losing all day, he picked winners back to back in the last two races.

adjective

1. adjacent or contiguous but oppositely oriented; having the backs close together or adjoining.

   The seats in the day coach are back to back.

2. Stud Poker.,  (of a pair) consisting of the hole card and the first upcard.

   He had aces back to back.

back-to-back

adjective

1. facing in opposite directions, often with the backs touching

2. (of urban houses) built so that their backs are joined or separated only by a narrow alley

3. informal,  consecutive

4. commerce

   1. denoting a credit arrangement in which a finance house acts as an intermediary to conceal the identity of the seller from the buyer

   2. denoting a loan from one company to another in a different country using a finance house to provide the loan but not the funding

noun

1. a house or terrace built in back-to-back style

Word History and Origins

Origin of back to back¹

First recorded in 1450–1500

Idioms and Phrases

With backs close together or touching, as in In the first and second rows of the bus, the seats were back to back, an unusual arrangement . This term also can be applied to persons who stand facing in opposite directions and with their backs touching. [Mid-1800s]

Consecutively, one after another, as in I'm exhausted; I had three meetings back to back . [Mid-1900s]

Example Sentences

It just so happens that, concurrent to my watching all eight episodes of Netflix‘s new miniseries, “Wayward,” twice — back to back, and with obsessive interest — I’ve been reading Melissa Broder’s 2018 novel, “The Pisces,” about a lady finding herself in love with a man who is half fish.

Read more on Salon

And to have them both happen in a 12-month period, back to back, it took me a long time to process all that.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Twenty six interviews back to back with all of the UK's regional political editors was a challenging prospect.

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The festival was built around solo artists, female singer-songwriters, who were having a moment; nevertheless, it was a time when promoters wouldn’t even put two women on the same bill and radio stations were loath to play female artists back to back.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Friday's Belfast Vital show is the second night of two back to back festival nights at Boucher Playing Fields in the south of the city.

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Related Words

• later