front bench
(used with a singular verb) (in the House of Commons) either of two seats near the Speaker, on which the leaders of the major parties sit.
(used with a singular or plural verb) the leaders who occupy a front bench.
Origin of front bench
1Other words from front bench
- front bencher, noun
- Compare back bench.
Words Nearby front bench
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use front bench in a sentence
The party leader and half his front bench mingled with the stars of British political media.
How To Fix America’s Dull, Corrupt Political Conventions | David Frum | August 18, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTWhen she sat on the front bench of the Brushwood schoolhouse, Pete had been one of the big boys at the back of the room.
A Girl Of The Limberlost | Gene Stratton PorterShe had lived a long time, had occupied a front bench overlooking one of the world's chief arenas of action.
The Fashionable Adventures of Joshua Craig | David Graham PhillipsAnother friend told me that, a few days before, he had been riding on the front bench of a grip-car on a Chicago cable-line.
Nuggets of the New Thought | William Walker Atkinson,"There's room on the front bench," cackled the Marquis, shaking his sides.
The Grey Wig: Stories and Novelettes | Israel Zangwill
The small boys in the front bench were all Balliol scholars in embryo; it would not pay them to crib.
The Loom of Youth | Alec Waugh
British Dictionary definitions for front bench
British
the foremost bench of either the Government or Opposition in the House of Commons
the leadership (frontbenchers) of either group, who occupy this bench
(as modifier): a front-bench decision
the leadership of the government or opposition in various legislative assemblies
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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