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.
See Examples For:
"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 can't backstab the people who support me."
From Salon ● Sep. 18, 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
In nonviolent settings, it leads to mean-girl-style ostracism or political backstabbing around the corporate watercooler.
From Slate ● Mar. 16, 2026
“The Last Kings” is rife with a different sort of bad behavior: the sort of backstabbing that only friends do.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 13, 2026
The Murdochs have never been a traditional family - one reason why their story is said to have inspired the power struggles and backstabbing in the acclaimed TV drama, Succession.
From BBC ● Dec. 23, 2025
There are CIA suits, secret police, faceless bureaucrats and backstabbing traitors lurking in these pages.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 27, 2025
Entire plots were hatched around swiping food, complete with double-crossing, backstabbing, intrigue, outright robbery, and gobbled evidence.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
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.
