How to Use back-of-the-envelope in a Sentence
back-of-the-envelope
adjective-
The back-of-the-envelope math all pointed to catastrophe.
—
Arkansas Online,
19 Mar. 2026
-
Just back-of-the-envelope energy math.
—
Marisa McMillan,
Outside,
7 Oct. 2025
-
Both memoirs prepare the lay gambler for a world of gruelling, bruising defeats and unglamorous back-of-the-envelope calculus.
—
Dan Piepenbring,
New Yorker,
4 Feb. 2026
-
Even simple back-of-the-envelope and spreadsheet models, using historical hourly data, tell a more consistent story.
—
Alex Pavlak,
Baltimore Sun,
1 Feb. 2026
-
Our back-of-the-envelope calculations suggest that Intel has left a lot of value locked behind its conglomerate structure.
—
Charlene Barshefsky,
Fortune,
19 Sep. 2025
-
By my back-of-the-envelope calculation, under this system the overall federal rate on a taxable income of $1 million would come to a rate of about 29%.
—
Business Columnist,
Los Angeles Times,
6 May 2026
-
So a back-of-the-envelope calculation would put $2,000 stimulus checks at a total cost of about $326 billion.
—
David Goldman,
CNN Money,
10 Nov. 2025
-
But Erica York, a tax policy expert at the Tax Foundation, attempted some back-of-the-envelope calculations.
—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
9 Nov. 2025
-
Antony Karabus, a longtime strategic adviser to retailers, gave a back-of-the-envelope accounting of how the costs of all the retail must-haves have changed since 2017 or 2018.
—
Evan Clark,
Footwear News,
10 Oct. 2025
-
Caveating that many basic questions remain unanswered, a back-of-the-envelope calculation shows a clear trade-off between immediate monthly affordability and long-term debt accumulation.
—
Preston Fore,
Fortune,
12 Nov. 2025
Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'back-of-the-envelope.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Last Updated:
