to backbite
- verb
- /ˈbækˌbaɪt/
- She regretted backbiting her friends when she realized the harm it caused.
Examples
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They would often backbite their absent colleagues in the office.
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Don't backbite your colleagues!
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He has backbitten nearly everyone in the department at some point.
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She often backbites others when they are not around.
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It's not fair to backbite your friends when they aren't around to defend themselves.
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She was upset when she discovered that her colleagues would backbite about her during meetings.
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To backbite others is unkind, especially when those people are not present to respond.
Synonyms
To speak badly about someone behind their backs
To criticize someone in a sly, indirect way
To say insulting things about someone to harm their reputation
To make a short indirect critical remark about someone
Say angry, cruel things about someone
Say very angry, hurtful things to someone to hurt them
Antonyms
How Harmful
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Backbite comes from the simple parts back and bite, like 'to bite someone behind their back'. So, to backbite is to say mean or hurtful things about someone who is not there.