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• back to back
  back to back

  adverb

  (of two similar events) following one immediately after the other; in unbroken sequence; consecutively.
• back-to-back
  back-to-back

  adjective

  facing in opposite directions, often with the backs touching

back to back

American  

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.

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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 British  

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

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noun

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

back to back Idioms  

1. 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]

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

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Etymology

Origin of back to back

First recorded in 1450–1500

Explanation

Back-to-back things come right after each other. Two back-to-back baseball games are played in a row. Back-to-back has been used to describe houses that are literally back-to-back with no separation. These days, back-to-back events happen consecutively. A baseball player with back-to-back home runs hit two in a row. A President with back-to-back victories won two elections in a row. There's no separation between back-to-back things, like how if your back was pressed against someone else’s back, nothing could fit in between. Sometimes people use the term back-to-back-to-back for things that happen three times in a row.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

back to back back-to-back

And after playing these two characters back to back, what have you sort of learned yourself, about your power or finding your voice, especially in an industry like Hollywood?

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026

El Niño and La Niña often alternate, but sometimes we can have two of the same event back to back.

From BBC ● Jun. 9, 2026

“You have to understand camera composition, which shots are changed. Like you can’t have two close-ups back to back, you have to start with an establishing shot,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 21, 2026

The show has followed the club's back to back to back promotions from the National League to the Championship, since Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds and actor Rob Mac took over.

From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026

I went on out the back to back the car out, then I had to go all the way round to the front before I found them.

From "The Sound and the Fury" by William Faulkner

Just a few miles from the Hollywood stairwell where we’re sitting, Kelela will translate her genre-flexing record for the stage at the Wiltern during two back-to-back shows on Sept. 21 and 22.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 18, 2026

Many of the 150 men and women serving under me had just completed back-to-back deployments lasting 12 to 15 months.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

La Guaira, home to a popular resort of the same name 40 kilometers from Venezuela's capital Caracas, was devastated by powerful back-to-back quakes on June 24 that left over 6,500 people dead.

From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026

According to his analysis, going back to 1945, the second and third quarters of midterm election years have registered the only back-to-back quarterly declines for the stock market, on average, during four-year presidential cycles.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 14, 2026

We’d just finished watching two of Deborah’s favorite movies back-to-back: Roots and the animated movie Spirit, about a wild horse who’s captured by the U.S.

From "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks" by Rebecca Skloot

Related Words

• later