backbite

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.

Characters backbite, bellyache, reluctantly pitch in and commit mundane acts of heroism in a largely believable manner, and there’s blessedly little inspirational speechmaking.

From New York Times • Sep. 11, 2022

Diana could spin one delicious backbite like that into a column.

From Time Magazine Archive

The only thing in which all parties agreed was to backbite the manager, and cabal against his regulations.

From Tales of a Traveller by Irving, Washington

Fall not into one name with that unclean spirit, nor act his nature whom thou so much abhorrest, that is, to accuse, calumniate, backbite, whisper, detract, or sinistrously interpret others.

From Religio Medici, Hydriotaphia, and the Letter to a Friend by Browne, Thomas, Sir

To backbite is to speak something secretly to one's injury; to calumniate is to invent as well as utter the injurious charge.

From English Synonyms and Antonyms With Notes on the Correct Use of Prepositions by Fernald, James Champlin