backslapping

[ bak-slap-ing ]

See synonyms for: backslapper on Thesaurus.com

noun

the practice of making a loud and effusive display of friendliness, cordiality, etc., as by slapping persons on the back.

Origin of backslapping

First recorded in 1770–80; back¹ + slapping

Other words from backslapping

backslapper, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use backslapping in a sentence

The idea that he could have gotten six more GOP votes with more back-slapping is preposterous.
Maureen Dowd Can Be Right, Too | Michael Tomasky | May 29, 2013 | THE DAILY BEAST
Only the Governor's back-slapping mediation had allowed them to reach a politically stable relationship.
A Mixture of Genius | Arnold Castle
Loud, back-slapping men, gabbling endlessly about baseball players.
A Book of Burlesques | H. L. Mencken
Here happened that accident of the back-slapping so frequently alluded to by her ladyship.
All Sorts and Conditions of Men | Walter Besant
Such hand-shaking and back-slapping and outcries of honest pleasure as greeted him!
Grenfell: Knight-Errant of the North | Fullerton Waldo

Save with Paul Riesling, mechanical friendships—back-slapping and jocular, never daring to essay the test of quietness.
Babbitt | Sinclair Lewis

British Dictionary definitions for back-slapping

back-slapping

adjective

energetically jovial; hearty

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

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