negging

[neg-ing]

noun

Slang.

1. the act of insulting someone or something with a backhanded compliment or with qualified approval, especially as a ploy to lower the self-esteem of a person or cheapen an object before showing romantic interest or making an offer.

   I will not tolerate gaslighting, negging, or other mind games in my love life.

Word History and Origins

Origin of negging¹

First recorded in 1995–2000; gerund of neg ( def. ) (in the sense “to give negative feedback”)

Example Sentences

But he’s clever enough to hide it, negging his hero into giving him a backstage pass.

From Los Angeles Times

Like Jess tells the sports star who’s negging her, she may be messy by the world’s standards, “but actually I’m a work in progress, because I know who I am and I know what I want, and I’m listening to myself.”

From Salon

“You have a Republican governor who’s actively collaborating with the left” in choosing not to shut down immigration, Carlson tells Meckler, keeping up his frequent negging of the very conservative Abbott.

From Slate

DeVido’s Emma Wheemer — a weary professor prone to negging people she admires and regretting it — feels like people I actually know.

From Washington Post

Or maybe Soper could just pop into the theater to perform a black box-style show based on her most recent album, “The Understanding of All Things,” in which she winningly dissects a male suitor’s negging in the Yeats poem “For Anne Gregory.”

From New York Times