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

Even in this last moment, however, of public recognition, he was not allowed to receive it without a snarl from one of the crowd of the many slanderers who found it safer to backbite him.

From The Prose Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D. - Volume 07 Historical and Political Tracts-Irish by Scott, Temple

As Brandes wittily observes: "People who talk like that do not torture their enemy to death; they backbite him."

From Essays on Scandinavian Literature by Boyesen, Hjalmar Hjorth

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