backhanded
Americanadjective
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performed with the hand turned backward, crosswise, or in any oblique direction so that the palm of the hand faces in the direction of the body and the back of the hand faces in the direction of forward movement.
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sloping in a downward direction from left to right.
backhanded writing.
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oblique or ambiguous in meaning; indirect; insincere or malicious; wry.
backhanded methods; a backhanded compliment.
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Ropemaking. noting a rope in which the yarns and the strands are laid in the same direction, the rope itself being laid in the opposite direction.
adverb
adjective
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(of a blow, shot, stroke, etc) performed with the arm moving across the body
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double-edged; equivocal
a backhanded compliment
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(of handwriting) slanting to the left
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(of a rope) twisted in the opposite way to the normal right-handed direction
adverb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of backhanded
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.
That No 10 feels the need to criticise the Greens is a backhanded compliment that shows they matter.
From BBC ● Jan. 31, 2026
Watts says you may already be attached once you notice the signs—they start a fight after a big event in the partner’s life, give backhanded compliments, monopolize the conversation—but it’s not worth sticking around.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 9, 2025
Last Thanksgiving was full of backhanded compliments and pointed remarks.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 27, 2025
Classics YouTube channel, though these are mostly — maybe entirely — extracted highlights rather than full cartoons, which is its own kind of backhanded insult.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 18, 2025
This outwardly aloof but blatantly defensive tone seemed to acknowledge, in its backhanded way, that his critics had struck a nerve.
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
