Word.ws English Dictionary

backbite

backbite verb: to make spiteful slanderous or defamatory statements about someone.

Verb

backbite (third-person singular simple present backbites, present participle backbiting, simple past backbit, past participle backbitten)

  1. To make spiteful slanderous or defamatory statements about someone.
    • They beguiled the time by backbiting and intriguing against each other in a foolish kind of way.1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 213
    • Gumshoe: You're not gonna get me to backbite a woman with a whip. No way.2007 March 16, Capcom Production Studio 4, quoting Gumshoe, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Justice for All, Europe: Capcom, →OCLC, Nintendo DS, scene: Part 3: Investigation, Plaza, level/area...
  2. (informal) To attack from behind or when out of earshot with spiteful or defamatory remarks.
  3. To speak badly of an absent individual.

Noun

backbite (plural backbites)

  1. One who engages in backbiting; a backbiter.

backbite meaning in Tamil, Urdu, Kannada and Arabic

backbite in Tamil

புறங்கூறு

backbite in Urdu

to make defamatory statements about another
غِیبَت کَرْنا ġībat karnā

backbite in Kannada

ಹಿಂದೆಯಾಡು, ಹಿಂದಾಡು

backbite in Arabic

to make defamatory statements about another
اِغْتَابَ iḡtāba, أَبَرَ ʔabara

Synonyms of backbite

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All synonyms of backbite

Forms of backbite

Verb
third-person singular presentbackbites
present participlebackbiting
pastbackbit
past participlebackbitten
alternative formback-bite
Noun
pluralbackbites

Origin of backbite

From Middle English bakbiten, bacbiten, equivalent to back- + bite. Cognate with Icelandic bakbíta (“to backbite, vilify”).

Words formed from backbite

Questions about backbite

What does backbite mean?
Backbite means to make spiteful slanderous or defamatory statements about someone.
What is backbite in Tamil?
Backbite in Tamil is புறங்கூறு. See Backbite meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is backbite?
Backbite can be a verb or a noun.
What is the past tense of backbite?
The past tense of backbite is backbit.

Words near backbite in the dictionary

  1. backbending
  2. backbends
  3. backbent
  4. backberend
  5. backbit
  6. backbite
  7. backbiter
  8. backbiters
  9. backbites
  10. backbiting
  11. backbitingly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backbite (page history and authors); backbite (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); backbite (Kannada Wiktionary) (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: “backbite.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/backbite. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.