Backlist

noun, verb

noun, verb ·2 syllables ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A list of older books available from a publisher, as opposed to the frontlist of more recent titles.
  2. 2
    Expected to achieve years of adequate sales while on a backlist, and to be profitable on that basis, even if predicted not to sell in huge numbers when new. attributive

    "The celebrity tell-all has been proposed as a frontlist title, whereas the cookbook has been proposed as a backlist title and the food history book as a midlist title."

Verb
  1. 1
    To hold back a student's application (to a college etc.) based on whether a preferred candidate declines their offer. transitive

    "I have not heard back from the college yet: I must have been backlisted."

  2. 2
    To place (a book) on a backlist. transitive

Synonyms

All synonyms
back catalogback cataloguebibliographyindex

Example

More examples

"The celebrity tell-all has been proposed as a frontlist title, whereas the cookbook has been proposed as a backlist title and the food history book as a midlist title."

Etymology

From back + list.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.