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

Tesla is sitting at $400, but is looking at back to back 6% weekly losses.

Read more on Barron's

In six and a half hours, Oscar could have watched “The Godfather” and “The Godfather Part II” back to back.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

“It’s crazy,” she said, “because it was so many gunshots like back to back to back.”

Read more on Los Angeles Times

“Living in downtown after 2020, it was back to back to back on different things that weren’t great for us,” Alvarez said.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

On Monday, he said, he would fly to Memphis to tour xAI’s new data center, “then up to 12 hours of back to back meetings across all Tesla departments.”

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• later