backscratching

The act or habit of engaging in a reciprocal beneficial action.

Noun

  1. The act or habit of engaging in a reciprocal beneficial action.
    • Near-synonym: logrolling
    • She babysits the kids, and we mow her lawn. A little backscratching never hurt anybody!

    Synonyms: logrolling

    1. (often) Such behavior that is corrupt.

      • You have to "tip" the inspector if you want a license in this town. Too much backscratching around here!
      • They discovered a citation ring: a group of researchers citing one another inordinately. This backscratching aimed to inflate their article-level metrics and author-level metrics.

      Synonyms: logrolling

Forms

backscratchings

Related

backscratcher scratch someone's back you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours green handshake pay-to-play quid pro quo

Verb

  1. present participle and gerund of backscratch