Word.ws English Dictionary

backslapping

backslapping is the present participle and gerund of backslap.

Meaning of backslap

Verb

backslap (third-person singular simple present backslaps, present participle backslapping, simple past and past participle backslapped)

  1. To enthusiastically affirm or congratulate a person, especially by patting them on the back.
    • In public he put on a performance that was at once outraged and outrageous, but usually he did not carry grudges into his private life. Exuding the backslapping air of a socializer who loved to gamble and drink, he could not understand why people whose careers he had ruined and publicly ridiculed...1983 August 13, John Kyper, “Flamboyant Inquisitor”, in Gay Community News, volume 11, number 5, page 14

Noun

backslapping (countable and uncountable, plural backslappings)

  1. action of the verb to backslap

Forms of backslapping

pluralbackslappings

Questions about backslapping

What does backslapping mean?
Backslapping means action of the verb to backslap.
What is backslapping the present participle and gerund of?
Backslapping is the present participle and gerund of backslap.
What part of speech is backslapping?
Backslapping is a noun.
What is the plural of backslapping?
The plural of backslapping is backslappings.

Words near backslapping in the dictionary

  1. backslangs
  2. backslap
  3. backslapped
  4. backslapper
  5. backslappers
  6. backslapping
  7. backslappings
  8. backslaps
  9. backslash
  10. backslashed
  11. backslashes

Source and license

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