backbite

American  

[bak-bahyt] / ˈbækˌbaɪt /

verb (used with object)

backbit, backbitten, backbit, backbiting

1. to attack the character or reputation of (a person who is not present).

   Synonyms:

   defame, libel, slander, deprecate, disparage, belittle

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verb (used without object)

backbit, backbitten, backbit, backbiting

1. to speak unfavorably or slanderously of a person who is not present.

backbite British  

/ ˈbækˌbaɪt /

verb

1. to talk spitefully about (an absent person)

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Other Word Forms

• backbiter
  noun

Etymology

Origin of backbite

Middle English word dating back to 1125–75; see origin at back ¹, bite

Example Sentences

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

It is true that Pygmalion was an artist, and these are proverbially difficult husbands: after an hour's work an artist will "sneer, backbite and speak daggers."

From The Intelligence of Woman by George, Walter Lionel

The practice of letters is miserably harassing to the mind; and after an hour or two's work, all the more human portion of the author is extinct; he will bully, backbite, and speak daggers.

From Virginibus Puerisque and Other Papers by Stevenson, Robert Louis

Amund the blind slays Lyting; Valgard the guileful comes back to Iceland; his evil counsel to Mord; Mord begins to backbite and slander Hauskuld and Njal's sons to one another.

From The story of Burnt Njal From the Icelandic of the Njals Saga by Dasent, George Webbe