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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
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