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.

See Examples For:

backbite backbites backbit backbitten backbiting

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

We have known others to join with their servants to backbite the best and noblest friends for trifling derelictions against the accustomed order of the house.

From Woman in the Ninteenth Century and Kindred Papers Relating to the Sphere, Condition and Duties, of Woman. by Margaret Fuller

Even in this last moment, however, of public recognition, he was not allowed to receive it without a snarl from one of the crowd of the many slanderers who found it safer to backbite him.

From The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. - Volume 07 Historical and Political Tracts-Irish by Temple Scott

But courteous gentlemen, that favor most, backbite none, and pardon what is overslipped, let such come and welcome; I'll into the steward's room, and fetch them a can of our best beverage.

From Rosalynde or, Euphues' Golden Legacy by Edward Chauncey Baldwin

One who backbites; a secret calumniator or detractor.

From Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (2nd 100 Pages) by Noah Webster

Here's an unthankful spiteful wretch! the good gentleman vouchsafed to make him his companion, because my husband put him into a few rags, and now see how the unrude rascal backbites him!

From Every Man out of His Humour by Ben Jonson

He was the hero of London society, which adored and backbit him alternately, and he was precisely the man whom the boy Brummell would worship.

From The Wits and Beaux of Society Volume 2 by Philip Wharton

It was only such as had reason to dread the secret communication between closet and housetop that feared her tongue; if she spoke loud, she never spoke false, or backbit in the dark.

From Malcolm by George MacDonald

No worse than they are backbitten, sir; for they have marvellous foul linen.

From The Complete Works of William Shakespeare by William Shakespeare

I came here to try and do you a good turn, not to hear John Huish backbitten.

From A Double Knot by George Manville Fenn

I have no friend at Rome; I have laboured in England, to be misrepresented, backbitten and scorned.

From Outspoken Essays by William Ralph Inge

I overheard the aide-de-camp say; "he is a backbiting sneak, and I tell you again he's backbitten nobody more than he has you!"

From The Cavalier by George Washington Cable

Now we can't help being backbitten or talked about, but we can help doing it to others: the way, child, is to keep to ourselves and to see no one.

From Daisy Burns (Volume 2) by Julia Kavanagh

A man masters his emotions, remains calm under pressure, refuses to engage in gossip or backbiting and accepts his imperfections while continually striving to become the best version of himself.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 24, 2026

That kind of provocative behavior will lead to years, even a lifetime, of one-upmanship, backbiting and behind-the-scenes maneuvers.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 3, 2025

Mark and Dahlia discuss this news, and also how lower court judges are calling out SCOTUS’ unreasoned, incoherent opinions and how some of the Justices are trying to control, alt, delete all the backbiting.

From Slate ● Sep. 6, 2025

It is too much to blame a single individual, as despicable as Carlson may be, for leading a whole country into a slough of anger, backbiting, recrimination and mistrust.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2023

His nominal goal was to end backbiting about the bomb program from Roosevelt’s director of war mobilization, James F. Byrnes, a former senator and Supreme Court justice.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik

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