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backdate

[bak-deyt]
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verb (used with object), back·dat·ed, back·dat·ing.
  1. to date earlier than the actual date; predate; antedate: Backdate the letter so he'll think I wrote it last week.
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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. 2018

Related Words

predate, pace, accelerate, precede, antecede, backdate, misdate, forerun
British Dictionary definitions for backdate

backdate

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

v.

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

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper