backbenchernoun

• 1

  governmentpoliticsA 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

  educationA student who does not perform well, especially one who sits at the back of the classroom.

  • 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.
• 3

  hobbieslifestylesportsA member of a team who does not usually play, but who is held in reserve.

  • 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.
• 4

  Someone who does not play an active role in a process.

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