Word.ws English Dictionary

backbites

backbites is the third-person singular simple present indicative of backbite.

backbites is the plural of backbite.

Meaning of backbite

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
  2. (informal) To attack from behind or when out of earshot with spiteful or defamatory remarks.
  3. To speak badly of an absent individual.

See all 4 meanings of backbite

Questions about backbites

What is backbites the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Backbites is the third-person singular simple present indicative of backbite.

Words near backbites in the dictionary

  1. backberend
  2. backbit
  3. backbite
  4. backbiter
  5. backbiters
  6. backbites
  7. backbiting
  8. backbitingly
  9. backbitings
  10. backbitten
  11. backblast

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backbites (page history and authors); backbite (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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