back door
Britishnoun
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a door at the rear or side of a building
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a means of entry to a job, position, etc, that is secret, underhand, or obtained through influence
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( as modifier )
a backdoor way of making firms pay more
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An entry at the rear of a building, as in Deliveries are supposed to be made at the back door only . [First half of 1500s]
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A clandestine, unauthorized, or illegal way of operating. For example, Salesmen are constantly trying to push their products by offering special gifts through the back door . This term alludes to the fact that the back door cannot be seen from the front. [Late 1500s]
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
If the administration focuses on uranium while ignoring the plutonium back door, our diplomatic strategy is dangerously incomplete.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 7, 2026
The hackers hadn’t only unlocked a back door into millions of home networks—they had also created a way to break into thousands of corporations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
Gil hustled to the back of the store, opened the back door to the encampment, and called out to the entire population.
From Slate • Mar. 25, 2026
Rudra Bahadur Kami returned to Nepal through a back door of Kathmandu airport in a battered coffin after working for more than a decade in Saudi Arabia to feed his family back home.
From Barron's • Feb. 16, 2026
Dashing into the hall, Jeremy raced for the back door of the school and started across the playground.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
