behind someone's back
224
4.3
- idiom
- Informal
- She made plans for the party behind her friend's back, hoping to surprise her.
- go behind someone's back
- talk behind someone's back
- want to go behind someone's back
Examples
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They discussed the changes to the project behind the manager's back to avoid her disapproval.
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And you carried on with him behind my back for 2 months.
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- Think you can go behind my back?
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Do not say it behind my back.
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You did that behind my back.
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I said, "Have you been sleeping around behind my back?"
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You know, I'm trying to help you, but you just keep sneaking food behind my back.
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As many people have, we go behind our parents' backs and "do things we aren't supposed to be doing."
Blog text (10) -
Problem is, you've been asking questions behind my back, ain't you?
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I couldn't hear what you and your snotty little friends were saying about me behind my back?
Synonyms
247
1.4
In a way that other people do not know
77
4.1
In private and not open to the public
71
6.4
Happens very near someone when they do not notice
68
2.5
In a way other people do not know
17
6.9
In a secret way so other people do not know
15
8.3
To do something secretly to avoid being noticed
10
7.8
In a secret way so other people do not know
3
8.0
In a secret way to avoid being seen or found
3
4.9
In a secret way so other people do not notice
To act in a secret way so people do not notice you
Antonyms
How Secret
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning 'without someone’s knowledge' is directly and predictably built from 'behind' + 'someone's' + 'back' because the spatial image of being physically behind a person's back maps clearly to being out of their sight/knowledge. This spatial-to-social metaphor is cross-linguistically common and involves no deep idiomatic shift, so a B1 learner who knows the constituent words will readily infer the MWE's meaning.
Etymology
Behind someone's back comes from the simple picture of someone standing at a person's back, where the person cannot see or hear what is done. So, if people act 'without someone's knowledge', they are doing things behind someone's back in a secret or unfair way.