backbencher
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.20 in modern English
26
Scrabble Score
11
Letters
2
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A Member of Parliament who does not have cabinet rank, and who therefore sits on one of the backbenches or in one of the back rows of the legislature.
Example Sentences
- "Classmates naturally turn to look at the backbencher, who must acknowledge his presence, with some embarrassment."
- "The teacher also gets an idea of the "backbenchers" or the slow students since he can see which desk is still to send an answer."
- "When I was in a primary school, I was a backbencher student."
- "During 1994, the national team players were away for a game in January and again during the season-ending league championship tournament in April. The “backbenchers” won all these games."
- "The plucky backbencher began his life in hockey as a player, breaking into the professional game with the Pacific Coast Hockey Association's Portland Rosebuds in 1916– 17, but turned amateur again the following season."
- "By the second scrimmage of the season he was a backbencher, suspended from the game for disciplinary reasons."
Etymology
From backbench + -er.