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
We have known others to join with their servants to backbite the best and noblest friends for trifling derelictions against the accustomed order of the house.
From Woman in the Ninteenth Century and Kindred Papers Relating to the Sphere, Condition and Duties, of Woman. by Fuller, Margaret
It is true that Pygmalion was an artist, and these are proverbially difficult husbands: after an hour's work an artist will "sneer, backbite and speak daggers."
From The Intelligence of Woman by George, Walter Lionel
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
