backstab
Americanverb (used with object)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of backstab
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.
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Yet at every turn, Deborah finds some excuse to backstab Ava, allegedly out of some version of respect, and Ava retaliates by sabotaging herself and her boss.
From Salon ● Apr. 10, 2025
"You don't know who to trust, and when you do trust someone they backstab you," he says.
From BBC ● Dec. 22, 2022
A backstab in Demon’s Souls sounds sharp and gives me a small shiver of excitement up my spine each time.
From The Verge ● Feb. 18, 2022
It was right place, right time or they had the guts enough to backstab their friends.
From Slate ● Dec. 8, 2021
“I do. But what does getting people to backstab each other have to do with making a good movie?”
From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon
He lied and backstabbed and took advantage of loopholes, and he argued — with a telegenic brashness — that this made him smart.
From New York Times ● Sep. 6, 2019
Back in high school, before being mellowed by parenthood and the Golden State, Amanda backstabbed and undermined and boyfriend-stole.
From Slate ● Mar. 2, 2012
And “My Way,” about a backstabbing girl who crossed a line with Ms. Rodrigo’s boyfriend, is pop-punk with a new-wave sheen, a combination of sounds that brings to mind Paramore.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 16, 2026
In nonviolent settings, it leads to mean-girl-style ostracism or political backstabbing around the corporate watercooler.
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2026
George Cukor’s black-and-white vision traipses its heroines through dress fittings, manicures and facials, day drinking and backstabbing all the way, save for an interruption by a Technicolor fashion show.
From Salon ● Nov. 6, 2025
She continues to settle scores on Father Figure - the scathing story of a backstabbing protégé, that interpolates the George Michael classic of the same name.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2025
After all, she came from a long line of backstabbing, power-hungry rivals.
From "Sterling Biographies®: Cleopatra: Egypt's Last and Greatest Queen" by Susan Blackaby
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.
