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.

adjectiveAlso back-to-back.
  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.

Origin of back to back

1
First recorded in 1450–1500

Words Nearby back to back

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use back to back in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for back-to-back

back-to-back

adjective(usually postpositive)
  1. facing in opposite directions, often with the backs touching

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

  1. informal consecutive

  2. commerce

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

    • 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

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with back to back

back to back

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]

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