backslap
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
Etymology
Origin of backslap
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The video, however, showed Giuliani in no danger of toppling from the backslap.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 27, 2022
“He’s not particularly ideological, he likes to backslap with his colleagues, and he likes to get around and raise money.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 22, 2020
But the eagerness to backslap Sandler for the type of puerile and incurious humor he’s been peddling for the past two decades is revealing on its own, too.
From Slate ● Nov. 7, 2018
His idiom consists exclusively of backslap and bluster.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 21, 2015
Representatives of national associations mingled on a restaurant terrace to eat, drink and backslap with old colleagues.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2015
He sold off the presidential yacht, where many of his predecessors had backslapped their way to legislative triumphs.
From Slate ● Dec. 29, 2024
During her victory speech last Tuesday in Brooklyn, Clinton openly backslapped Sanders.
From Time ● Jun. 13, 2016
Democrats and Republicans alike hugged and backslapped, got themselves sworn in and offered a few clues about the issues ahead.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 7, 2014
Roberts then blasted his own grand slam, and after the four Diamondbacks backslapped their way to the dugout, the fans demanded that Roberts take a bow.
From New York Times ● Oct. 6, 2011
Dale returned to his seat while the men backslapped each other and said jovial things back and forth.
From "It All Comes Down to This" by Karen English
Previous versions have often been sleepy affairs with more backslapping and grandstanding than serious policy action.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 15, 2026
Brian Andersen testified during the first trial that he attended tennis tournaments weeks before the killings and remembered “excitement, jubilation, backslapping, compliments” from Jose and Mary Louise Menendez when Erik Menendez was winning.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2023
They describe him as a “loner” who “was not a backslapping politician.”
From Slate ● Mar. 18, 2023
Reunions - some backslapping and cheery, others tearful - are everywhere as people run into old friends they haven't seen for months.
From BBC ● Nov. 13, 2022
Syl’s ma and pa got out and took to hugging and backslapping the ferryman.
From "The Journey of Little Charlie" by Christopher Paul Curtis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
