Word.ws English Dictionary

back-handed compliment

back-handed compliment is the alternative spelling of backhanded compliment.

Meaning of backhanded compliment

Noun

backhanded compliment (plural backhanded compliments)

  1. (idiomatic) An insult disguised as a compliment; a compliment which can be interpreted as an insult.
    • "[…] regardless of what he may say to you, he respects your great learning, and, therefore, has immense confidence in your judgment. The poor dear cannot differentiate between erudition and wisdom." Mr. Philander, with a mildly puzzled expression on his face, turned to pursue Professor Porter, and...1914, Edgar Rice Burroughs, chapter 17, in Tarzan of the Apes

Forms of back-handed compliment

pluralback-handed compliments

Questions about back-handed compliment

What is back-handed compliment the alternative spelling of?
Back-handed compliment is the alternative spelling of backhanded compliment.

Words near back-handed compliment in the dictionary

  1. back-friend
  2. back-friends
  3. back-ganging
  4. back-hand
  5. back-handed
  6. back-handed compliment
  7. back-handed compliments
  8. back-handedly
  9. back-handedness
  10. back-hander
  11. back-handers

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: back-handed compliment (page history and authors); backhanded compliment (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Cite this entry: “back-handed compliment.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/back-handed_compliment. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.