backbite
One who engages in backbiting; a backbiter.
Noun
- One who engages in backbiting; a backbiter.
Origin
From Middle English bakbiten, bacbiten, equivalent to back- + bite. Cognate with Icelandic bakbíta (“to backbite, vilify”).
Forms
Verb
- To make spiteful slanderous or defamatory statements about someone.
- They beguiled the time by backbiting and intriguing against each other in a foolish kind of way. - 1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New...
- Gumshoe: You're not gonna get me to backbite a woman with a whip. No way. - 2007 March 16, Capcom Production Studio 4, quoting Gumshoe, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All, Europe: Capcom, →OCLC, Nintendo DS,...
Synonyms: denigrate libel slander assassinate asperse backbite badmouth befoul belibel besmirch besmear bewray blacken blame blaze blemish blot blur calumniate calumny chat shit chat shite cloud defame
- To attack from behind or when out of earshot with spiteful or defamatory remarks.
- To speak badly of an absent individual.