Synonyms

backbite

American

[bak-bahyt] / ˈbækˌbaɪt /

verb (used with object)

to attack the character or reputation of (a person who is not present).

Synonyms:

defame, libel, slander, deprecate, disparage, belittle

verb (used without object)

to speak unfavorably or slanderously of a person who is not present.

backbite British

/ ˈbækˌbaɪt /

verb

to talk spitefully about (an absent person)

"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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

backbiter

noun

Inflected Forms

Participles

Conjugated Forms

Present

Past

Future

Etymology

Origin of backbite

Middle English word dating back to 1125–75; see origin at back ¹, bite

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Characters backbite, bellyache, reluctantly pitch in and commit mundane acts of heroism in a largely believable manner, and there’s blessedly little inspirational speechmaking.

From New York Times • Sep. 11, 2022

Diana could spin one delicious backbite like that into a column.

From Time Magazine Archive

Let us pitch ill-nature into the sea—as the boys say—and henceforth backbite no more.

From The Exemplary Novels of Cervantes by Cervantes Saavedra, Miguel de

If we backbite our friends, we give them free permission to backbite us, or we know that they do it, which amounts to pretty much the same thing.

From Name and Fame A Novel by Sergeant, Adeline

It is true that Pygmalion was an artist, and these are proverbially difficult husbands: after an hour's work an artist will "sneer, backbite and speak daggers."

From The Intelligence of Woman by George, Walter Lionel

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023