backdate

[bak-deyt]

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verb (used with object), back·dat·ed, back·dat·ing.

to date earlier than the actual date; predate; antedate: Backdate the letter so he'll think I wrote it last week.

Origin of backdate

An Americanism dating back to 1945–50; back² + date¹

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for backdate

predate, pace, accelerate, precede, antecede, backdate, misdate, forerun

British Dictionary definitions for backdate

backdate

verb

(tr) to make effective from an earlier datethe pay rise was backdated to August

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

Word Origin and History for backdate

also back-date, by 1881 (implied in back-dated), from back (adv.) + date (v.1). Cf. antedate. Related: Backdated; backdating.