backbiting

(redirected from backbiters)
Also found in: Thesaurus.

back·bite

(băk′bīt′)

v. back·bit (-bĭt′), back·bit·ten (-bĭt′n), back·bit·ing, back·bites

v.tr.

To speak spitefully or slanderously about (another).

v.intr.

To speak spitefully or slanderously about a person.

back′bit′er n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

backbiting

(ˈbækbaɪtɪŋ)

spiteful talk about an absent person

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

backbiting

noun slander, abuse, spite, gossip, smearing, malice, maligning, defamation, vilification, denigration, bitchiness (slang), calumny, disparagement, muckraking, vituperation, spitefulness, cattiness (informal), scandalmongering, detraction, calumniation Corporate backbiting is nothing new.

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

Translations

إنتِقاد، اغتِياب

pomluva

bagtalelse

Tuscheln Verleumdung

médisancetransfert intramoléculaire

fúrás

baknag, rógburîur

maldicenza

baksnakking

çekiştirme

诽谤

backbiting

[ˈbækbaɪtɪŋ] N → murmuración f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

backbiting

[ˈbækbaɪtɪŋ] n → médisances fpl

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

backbiting

[ˈbækˌbaɪtɪŋ] n → maldicenze fpl

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

back

(bӕk) noun

1. in man, the part of the body from the neck to the bottom of the spine. She lay on her back.

2. in animals, the upper part of the body. She put the saddle on the horse's back.

3. that part of anything opposite to or furthest from the front. the back of the house; She sat at the back of the hall.

4. in football, hockey etc a player who plays behind the forwards.

adjective

of or at the back. the back door.

adverb

1. to, or at, the place or person from which a person or thing came. I went back to the shop; He gave the car back to its owner.

2. away (from something); not near (something). Move back! Let the ambulance get to the injured man; Keep back from me or I'll hit you!

3. towards the back (of something). Sit back in your chair.

4. in return; in response to. When the teacher is scolding you, don't answer back.

5. to, or in, the past. Think back to your childhood.

verb

1. to (cause to) move backwards. He backed (his car) out of the garage.

2. to help or support. Will you back me against the others?

3. to bet or gamble on. I backed your horse to win.

ˈbacker noun

a person who supports someone or something, especially with money. the backer of the new theatre.

ˈbackbite verb

to criticize a person when he is not present.

ˈbackbiting noun

Constant backbiting by her colleagues led to her resignation.

ˈbackbone noun

1. the spine. the backbone of a fish.

2. the chief support. The older employees are the backbone of the industry.

ˈbackbreaking adjective

(of a task etc) very difficult or requiring very hard work. Digging the garden is a backbreaking job.

ˌbackˈdate verb

1. to put an earlier date on (a cheque etc). He should have paid his bill last month and so he has backdated the cheque.

2. to make payable from a date in the past. Our rise in pay was backdated to April.

ˌbackˈfire verb

1. (of a motor-car etc) to make a loud bang because of unburnt gases in the exhaust system. The car backfired.

2. (of a plan etc) to have unexpected results, often opposite to the intended results. His scheme backfired (on him), and he lost money.

ˈbackground noun

1. the space behind the principal or most important figures or objects of a picture etc. He always paints ships against a background of stormy skies; trees in the background of the picture.

2. happenings that go before, and help to explain, an event etc. the background to a situation.

3. a person's origins, education etc. She was ashamed of her humble background.

ˈbackhand noun

1. in tennis etc, a stroke or shot with the back of one's hand turned towards the ball. a clever backhand; His backhand is very strong.

2. writing with the letters sloping backwards. I can always recognize her backhand.

adverb

using backhand. She played the stroke backhand; She writes backhand.

ˈbacklog noun

a pile of uncompleted work etc which has collected. a backlog of orders because of the strike.

ˌback-ˈnumber noun

an out-of-date copy or issue of a magazine etc. He collects back-numbers of comic magazines.

ˈbackpack noun

(especially American) a bag that walkers, people who go on trips, or students carry on their backs.

ˈbackpacking: go backpacking

to go on trips or go camping carrying a backpack.

ˈbackpacker noun

ˈbackside noun

the bottom or buttocks. He sits on his backside all day long and does no work.

ˈbackslash noun

the sign (\).

ˈbackstroke noun

in swimming, a stroke made when lying on one's back in the water. The child is good at backstroke.

ˈbackup noun

1. additional people who provide help when it is needed. The police officer requested some backup when the shooting began.

2. a copy of a computer file that can be used in case the original is destroyed.

3. (also adjective) a piece of equipment, a system etc that can be used when there is a problem with the original one. a backup plan; We have a backup generator in case the power fails.

ˈbackwash noun

1. a backward current eg that following a ship's passage through the water. the backwash of the steamer.

2. the unintentional results of an action, situation etc. The backwash of that firm's financial troubles affected several other firms.

ˈbackwater noun

1. a stretch of river not in the main stream.

2. a place not affected by what is happening in the world outside. That village is rather a backwater.

ˌbackˈyard noun

(especially American) a garden at the back of a house etc. He grows vegetables in his backyard.

back down

to give up one's opinion, claim etc. She backed down in the face of strong opposition.

back of

(American) behind. He parked back of the store.

back on to

(of a building etc) to have its back next to (something). My house backs on to the racecourse.

back out

1. to move out backwards. He opened the garage door and backed (his car) out.

2. to withdraw from a promise etc. You promised to help – you mustn't back out now!

back up

1. to support or encourage. The new evidence backed up my arguments.

2. to make a copy of the information stored on the computer or disk.

have one's back to the wall

to be in a very difficult or desperate situation. He certainly has his back to the wall as he has lost his job and cannot find another one.

put someone's back up

to anger someone. He put my back up with his boasting.

take a back seat

to take an unimportant position. At these discussions he always takes a back seat and listens to others talking.

Mentioned in ?

References in classic literature ?

So great was it, that in a voice inarticulate with rage, with a stammering tongue, and eyes that flashed living fire, he exclaimed, "Rascally clown, boorish, insolent, and ignorant, ill-spoken, foul-mouthed, impudent backbiter and slanderer!

View in context

"Who biled the salt bait fer soup?" This was an unknown backbiter a quarter of a mile away.

View in context

Backbiters have a field day on Facebook because, to them, Facebook is like war and all is fair, though those with no backbone never name names and smile with no compunction at those whose names they should have given.

Love/Hate Social Media

Primus Detractor and the other "backbiters" can't at first participate in this communal spirit, as they don't know the truth that lies within Mary.

Performing Orthodox Heresy: Mary, Antinomianism, and the Transgressive Female Body in N-Town's "The Trial of Mary and Joseph"

Remember that backbiters and scandal-mongers belong to a mean and cunning group, though they pretend to be sincere advisers.

Good Governance in Islam

A good example of the virulence of the attacks against backbiters is The Evil Tongue Tryed and Found Guilty (1672), in which Stephen Ford denounces "the hainous, horrid, and hurtful nature of the sin of slandering" (92).

"Play, utopia or anguish"? Accounting for the persistence of the discourse against slander from the Middle Ages to the early modern period

And with Labour under Jeremy Corbyn ahead in the polls for the first time, the backbiters and doubters need to get behind him and really go for the Tory jugular.

Our trolley dash into the future; Letter of the WEEK; Letters

We can defend ourselves from robbers, but how do we defend ourselves from rumormongers and backbiters? We can't.

More than talk

But you can't ignore the world's narcissists, passive-aggressive backbiters, or control freaks.

BOOKENDS

"She's a liar and a cheat and we're gunna prove it to the barristers and the jurors and the backbiters who dragged my name through the mud and who sent a good man to an early grave.

Justice for all? Frank's rape trial begins, but will exposing Carla and Peter's secret affair allow him to walk free?

The district has two most popular squares that are known with the nicknames of Choghali Chowk (Backbiters' Square) and Kabutar (Pigeon) Roundabout.