back-room

back-room — noun

1. a room that is located at the rear of a building, typically away from the entran

1.名詞B1
釋義

a room that is located at the rear of a building, typically away from the entrance and not seen by customers or the general public.

例句

The restaurant stores its extra chairs and tables in a small back room behind the kitchen.

back room behind the kitchen — location cue

Neha discovered an old back room filled with dusty boxes and broken furniture near the basement stairs.

同義詞
  • storeroom

    emphasises storage function; less likely to imply secrecy

  • back office

    business term for the administrative area, not necessarily a single room

文法句型

a/the back room

back room + noun

用法筆記

Countable noun. Often appears with a definite article (the back room) when referring to a specific room in a known building. The compound can be spelled as one word (backroom) or two (back room); hyphenated (back-room) is less common in modern usage.

常見錯誤

❌The secret police met in backroom.
✅The secret police met in a back room.
💡'back room' is a countable noun and needs a determiner.
❌She sat in the back-room of the shop.
✅She sat in the back room of the shop.
💡When used literally for a physical room, two words without the hyphen is the standard form.

2. a situation or setting where a small group of people make important decisions in

2.名詞B2
釋義

a situation or setting where a small group of people make important decisions in secret, especially in politics or business, away from public view.

例句

The merger was not discussed at the board meeting; it was arranged in a back room by three senior executives.

arranged in a back room — figurative use for secret deal-making

Chidi suspected that the real decisions were made in a back room long before the public vote took place.

同義詞
  • back channel

    often implies unofficial communication rather than a physical place

  • closed session

    formal term for a meeting without the public; less negative in tone

  • smoke-filled room

    old-fashioned, strongly negative, implies corrupt political deals

反義詞

文法句型

the back room

in a back room

back-room deal

用法筆記

Nearly always used figuratively in this sense. The literal meaning ('a room at the back') is sense 1. Distinguish from sense 1 by context: if the sentence is about negotiations, deals, or political strategy, the figurative sense applies.

常見錯誤

❌The party chairman did a back room.
✅The party chairman held a back-room meeting.
💡'back room' needs a verb to describe the activity, it is not itself an action verb.
❌Back room decisions are usually secret.
✅Back-room decisions are usually secret.
💡When used as a modifier before a noun, the hyphen is standard.

back-room — adjective