backbite
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See also: back-bite
English[edit]
Alternative forms[edit]
Etymology[edit]
From Middle English bakbiten, bacbiten, equivalent to back- + bite. Cognate with Icelandic bakbíta (“to backbite, vilify”).
Verb[edit]
backbite (third-person singular simple present backbites, present participle backbiting, simple past backbit, past participle backbitten)
- To make spiteful slanderous or defamatory statements about someone.
- 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 213:
- They beguiled the time by backbiting and intriguing against each other in a foolish kind of way.
- (informal) To attack from behind or when out of earshot with spiteful or defamatory remarks.
- To speak badly of an absent individual.
Synonyms[edit]
- See also Thesaurus:defame
Derived terms[edit]
Translations[edit]
to make defamatory statements about another
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Noun[edit]
backbite (plural backbites)
- One who engages in backbiting; a backbiter.