Word.ws English Dictionary

backstroke

/ˈbækˌstɹoʊk/

backstroke noun: a backhanded stroke or blow.

backstroke: a backhanded stroke or blow
Image: Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

backstroke (plural backstrokes)

  1. A backhanded stroke or blow.
    • He observed that Cid Ruy-dias was an excellent knight; but not equal to the Lord of the Flaming-sword, who with one back-stroke [translating revés] had cut two fierce and monstrous giants through the middle.1755, Miguel de Cervantes, translated by Tobias Smollett, Don Quixote, Volume 1, I.1
  2. A stroke swum lying on one's back, while rotating both arms through the water as to propel the swimmer backwards.
    • Near-synonym: back crawl
    Synonyms:
    back crawl
  3. The pull on the tail of the rope that swings the bell through a full circle.

Verb

backstroke (third-person singular simple present backstrokes, present participle backstroking, simple past and past participle backstroked)

  1. (transitive) To hit with a backstroke.
  2. (intransitive) To swim the backstroke.

backstroke meaning in Tamil, Kannada and Tagalog

backstroke in Tamil

பின்னோக்கிய கைவீச்சு, பின்னோக்கிய அடி

backstroke in Kannada

ಹಿಂದೇಟು, ಹಿಂದೀಜು, ಅಂತರೀಜು

backstroke in Tagalog

a swimming stroke swum on one's back
balangay, himbalangay

Synonyms of backstroke

Forms of backstroke

Noun
pluralbackstrokes
Verb
third-person singular presentbackstrokes
present participlebackstroking
past participlebackstroked
pastbackstroked

Origin of backstroke

From back + stroke.

Words formed from backstroke

Questions about backstroke

What does backstroke mean?
Backstroke means a backhanded stroke or blow.
What is backstroke in Tamil?
Backstroke in Tamil is பின்னோக்கிய கைவீச்சு, பின்னோக்கிய அடி. See Backstroke meaning in Tamil.
What part of speech is backstroke?
Backstroke can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce backstroke?
Backstroke is pronounced /ˈbækˌstɹoʊk/ (US).
What is the plural of backstroke?
The plural of backstroke is backstrokes.

Words near backstroke in the dictionary

  1. backstretched
  2. backstretches
  3. backstretching
  4. backstrip
  5. backstrips
  6. backstroke
  7. backstroked
  8. backstroker
  9. backstrokers
  10. backstrokes
  11. backstroking

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: backstroke (page history and authors); backstroke (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); backstroke (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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-backstroke.ogg.

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