back-to-back
/bæk tə bæk/
Very CommonMeetings or calls scheduled one after another with no gap between them.
Almost always used as a complaint. Saying you have 'back-to-backs all day' is shorthand for 'I have no time and this is not sustainable.'
Real-world examples4 examples
| # | Example | What it means | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | back-to-backs from 9 to 5. haven't eaten. someone make it stop. | A full day of back-to-back meetings with no time for anything else. | x, 2023 |
| 02 | sorry i missed your message, had back-to-backs all morning | Consecutive meetings explain a delayed response. | reddit, 2022 |
| 03 | put 15 minute buffers between every meeting. back-to-backs are banned on my calendar. | A deliberate practice to avoid consecutive meetings. | x, 2024 |
| 04 | when you join a meeting while still in the previous meeting because back-to-backs | The overlap of consecutive meetings forces multitasking between calls. | reddit, 2021 |
Use it when
- You have consecutive meetings with no breaks.
- Explaining why you could not respond or do real work.
- Describing a meeting-heavy week or day.
Do not use it when
- You have two meetings in a day with gaps in between.
Origin and context
General English phrase meaning consecutive without a gap. Adopted in workplace slang to describe tightly packed meeting schedules, particularly as remote work made calendars more visible and meeting load harder to manage.
- First seen
- pre-2010s
- Confidence
- medium
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https://slang.fyi/back-to-backUpdated: 2026-08-29License: CC BY 4.0