backbencher

See also: back-bencher

English

Alternative forms

• back-bencher

Etymology

From backbench +‎ -er.

Noun

backbencher (plural backbenchers)

1. (politics) 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.
2. (education) A student who does not perform well, especially one who sits at the back of the classroom.
   • 1978, Ralph Canada, Charles Cheatham, Tony Licata, Surviving the first year of law school, page 37:

     Classmates naturally turn to look at the backbencher, who must acknowledge his presence, with some embarrassment.

   • 2000 March, Renu Sahni, Nandita Satsangee, Vishal Sahni, Soami P. Satangee, “Intelligent Class Rooms of the Future”, in Proceedings of the National Seminar on Applied Systems Engineering and Soft Computing, →ISBN, page 630:

     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.

   • 2014, Jill Brown, Navigating International Academia: Research Student Narratives, →ISBN, page 630:

     When I was in a primary school, I was a backbencher student.

3. (sports) A member of a team who does not usually play, but who is held in reserve.
   • 2000, Nancy Theberge, Higher Goals: Women's Ice Hockey and the Politics of Gender, →ISBN, page 39:

     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.

   • 2009, Doug Lennox, Now You Know Big Book of Sports, →ISBN, page 35:

     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.

   • 2014, Paul Gionfriddo, Losing Tim: How Our Health and Education Systems Failed My Son with Schizophrenia, →ISBN:

     By the second scrimmage of the season he was a backbencher, suspended from the game for disciplinary reasons.

4. (by extension) Someone who does not play an active role in a process.
   • 2006, Karen Seashore Louis, Molly F. Gordon, Aligning Student Support With Achievement Goals, →ISBN:

     As we stated in previous chapters, counselors and other student support personnel have been backbenchers in the ongoing drama of school reform.

   • 2015, W. John Green, A History of Political Murder in Latin America, →ISBN, page 122:

     Mayorga was no backbencher in the dirty war. He had been chief of the naval base in Trelew in 1972, when one of the first massacres took place.

   • 2017, Edward Dayes, So cause her downfall, →ISBN, page 90:

     But, Jack was a backbencher in the committee. His main function was to keep an eye on the theatre's income.

Coordinate terms

• frontbencher

Translations

member of Parliament who does not have cabinet rank

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 後坐議員／后坐议员 (hòuzuò yìyuán), 普通議員／普通议员 (pǔtōng yìyuán)

• Finnish: takapenkkiläinen
• French: député de l’arrière-ban m, député sans portefeuille m, députée sans portefeuille f, simple député m
• Georgian: პარლამენტის რიგითი წევრი (ṗarlamenṭis rigiti c̣evri)
• German: Hinterbänkler (de) m, Hinterbänklerin (de) f
• Icelandic: venjulegur þingmaður m (referring to a man), venjuleg þingkona f (referring to a woman); þingmaður sem ekki er í flokksforystunni m (referring to a man), þingkona sem ekki er í flokksforystunni f (referring to a woman)
• Japanese: 平議員 (ひらぎいん, hiragiin)
• Korean: please add this translation if you can
• Manx: cooyl-vinkeyr m
• Persian: please add this translation if you can
• Russian: рядово́й член парла́мента m (rjadovój člen parlámenta), заднескаме́ечник (ru) m (zadneskaméječnik), заднескаме́ечница f (zadneskaméječnica)
• Spanish: please add this translation if you can
• Swedish: parlamentsledamot (sv) c
• Vietnamese: please add this translation if you can