Word.ws English Dictionary

back biter

back biter is the alternative form of backbiter.

Meaning of backbiter

Noun

backbiter (plural backbiters)

  1. A person who says nasty things about another person behind the second person's back: that is, out of their sight and hearing.
    • […] here were no Gibers, Cenſurers, Backbiters, Pick-pockets, Highwaymen, Houſebreakers, Attorneys, Bawds, Buffoons, Gameſters, Politicians, Wits, ſplenetick tedious Talkers, Controvertiſts, Raviſhers, Murderers, Robbers, Virtuoſo's; […]1726 October 28, [Jonathan Swift], “The Author’s Oeconomy and Happy Life among the Houyhnhnms. […]”, in Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. […] [Gulliver’s Travels], volume II, London...

Forms of back biter

pluralback biters

Questions about back biter

What is back biter the alternative form of?
Back biter is the alternative form of backbiter.

Words near back biter in the dictionary

  1. back bearings
  2. back beat
  3. back beats
  4. back bench
  5. back benches
  6. back biter
  7. back biters
  8. back block
  9. back blocks
  10. back board
  11. back boards

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: back biter (page history and authors); backbiter (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.

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