backstabbing
5
5.4
- noun
- /ˈbækˌstæbɪŋ/
- Informal
- The workplace was filled with backstabbing, making it difficult to trust anyone.
- backstabbing and petty intrigues
- backstabbing and treachery
- backstabbing, cheating
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Watch on YouTubeToxic bosses foster backstabbing and triangulated work cultures.
- Toxic bosses foster backstabbing and triangulated work cultures.
- They're not the, the, the, the backstabbing is aimed at us.
- I am in a shark infested wrestling business where there's a natural bit of backstabbing, there's a natural bit of politicking, all this.
- And then the kind of backstabbing goes on and, and that's not really helping you when you're in this situation, right?
Examples
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It's all industry talk and name-dropping and catty backstabbing.
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They are more like high school with all the cliques, gossip, backstabbing, and favoritism.
Blog text (15) -
It's called backstabbing, which these people live to do.
Blog text (4) -
I wish we could get out and leave all this backstabbing and crookedness behind us.
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Any politician trying this stunt would make himself an easy target for such backstabbing.
Blog text (23) -
All the backstabbing Jackie did to Laura and the other girls trying to divide the girls against Jackie.
Blog text (21) -
"People come to small towns to practice law to get away from some of the animosity or backstabbing," said Bolt.
Academic text (1993) -
The unprofessionalism, drama, backstabbing, and bad business practices that surrounded this band and its 'leader' became too much for me to handle.
Blog text (1) -
I can't take the fighting, the backstabbing, the open hostility.
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And then all hell broke loose: rampant evil, grabbing and grasping, vicious backstabbing.
Blog text (27)
Synonyms
183
3.9
An act of not being loyal to someone, for example telling their secrets or helping an enemy
60
6.6
To betray someone after pretending to help them
44
7.5
To betray someone's trust or loyalty
26
4.9
To use dishonest ways to cheat people
24
8.0
Someone who secretly plans to do something dishonest or harmful
22
6.0
Secret dishonest actions that harm or make someone look bad, often in politics and business
12
4.9
An unfair action meant to harm or cheat someone
12
6.2
Having secret plans to get what you want in a dishonest way
9
7.4
An act of betraying someone who trusted you after pretending to help them
3
9.9
A dishonest act that breaks someone's trust
2
7.5
Behaving dishonestly by pretending one thing and doing another
2
8.0
To try to make someone less honest or loyal
1
9.9
The act of betraying your country or people by helping their enemies
1
8.8
Being disloyal to your country, friends, or cause
Antonyms
How Treacherous
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
Backstabbing comes from the picture of being stabbed in the back: back 'behind' and stab 'to push a knife into'. So as a noun, backstabbing is an 'act of secret betrayal' by someone who pretends to be your friend.