stab in the back, a

1. A betrayal of trust, an act of treachery, as in Voting against our bill at the last minute was a real stab in the back. It is also put as stab someone in the back, meaning “betray someone.” For example, Don't trust George; he's been known to stab his friends in the back. Both the noun and verb forms of this idiom, alluding to a physical attack when one's back is turned, date from the early 1900s.

Example Sentences

The nickname of the Mirror’s main pub indicates another use made of such establishments: “The Stab in the Back”, a name so entrenched it has eclipsed the original name of the White Hart.

From The Guardian

Responding, Wallace said: “You used some very strong words, ‘stab in the back’, ‘a special place in hell’.

From The Guardian

After Vladimir Putin declared Turkey’s downing of a Russian jet near the Syrian border to be a “stab in the back”, a chill has descended over Russian-Turkish relations.

From Economist

It is a stab in the back, a cowardly assassination of the heart.

From Project Gutenberg