stab in the back
stab in the back noun: an act of betrayal or treachery.
Noun
stab in the back (plural stabs in the back)
- An act of betrayal or treachery.
- Vice-President Dick Cheney viewed the move by Britain—“perfidious Albion,” as he put it—as “a stab in the back,” according to a former senior intelligence official.2009 March 30, Dick Cheney, quotee, “Albion, I stab at thee”, in The Economist, →ISSN
- Another Russian general — Lt. Gen. Vladimir Alekseyev — made his own video appeal, calling any actions against the Russian state a “stab in the back of the country and president.”2023 June 28, Julian E. Barnes, Helene Cooper, Eric Schmitt, “Russian General Knew About Mercenary Chief’s Rebellion Plans, U.S. Officials Say”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
- Synonyms:
- perfidy, prodition, treason, betrayal, breach of promise, breach of trust, double-dealing, Judas kiss, perfidiousness, Punic faith
Verb
stab in the back (third-person singular simple present stabs in the back, present participle stabbing in the back, simple past and past participle stabbed in the back)
- To betray (somebody).
- “What concerns me,” Ryder said, as if they’d been having an entirely different conversation, “is that you’re angry right now, Harper. Menoris was a teammate and you trusted her; I get that. Everyone’s been stabbed in the back at some point or another. But are you going to Illium to complete the...2017 November, N. K. Jemisin, Mac Walters, chapter 5, in Mass Effect Andromeda: Initiation, 1st edition (Science Fiction), Titan Books, →ISBN, →OCLC, page 96
- Speaking on February 1, Cash said: "Today, transport workers who are risking their lives keeping our country moving have found out they have been stabbed in the back by the Government, who have extended the public sector pay freeze to the transport sector […].2021 February 10, Richard Clinnick, “Network News: Fears of pay freeze prompt union strike threat”, in RAIL, number 924, page 24
- Synonyms:
- forswear, sell out, traitorize, assfuck, betray, burn, cop out, cross out, cross up, double-cross
stab in the back meaning in Malayalam, Kannada and Vietnamese
stab in the back in Malayalam
- act of betrayal
- പിന്നിൽനിന്നുള്ള കുത്ത് pinnilninnuḷḷa kuttŭ
- to betray somebody
- പിന്നിൽനിന്നു കുത്തുക pinnilninnu kuttuka
stab in the back in Kannada
- ಬೆನ್ನಿಗೆ ಚೂರಿ ಹಾಕು, ಬೆನ್ನ ಹಿಂದೆ ಇರಿ, ದ್ರೋಹ ಮಾಡು, ಮೋಸ ಮಾಡು, ವಚನಭಂಗ ಮಾಡು, ಬೆನ್ನ ಹಿಂದೆ ನಿಂದಿಸು
stab in the back in Vietnamese
- act of betrayal
- sự hãm hại
- to betray somebody
- hãm hại
Synonyms of stab in the back
- perfidy
- prodition
- treason
- betrayal
- breach of promise
- breach of trust
- double-dealing
- Judas kiss
- tergiversation
- treacherousness
29 more synonymsFewer synonyms
Forms of stab in the back
| Noun | |
|---|---|
| plural | stabs in the back |
| Verb | |
| third-person singular present | stabs in the back |
| present participle | stabbing in the back |
| past participle | stabbed in the back |
| past | stabbed in the back |
Questions about stab in the back
- What does stab in the back mean?
- Stab in the back means an act of betrayal or treachery.
- What is stab in the back in Malayalam?
- Stab in the back in Malayalam is പിന്നിൽനിന്നുള്ള കുത്ത് (pinnilninnuḷḷa kuttŭ), പിന്നിൽനിന്നു കുത്തുക (pinnilninnu kuttuka). See Stab in the back meaning in Malayalam.
- What part of speech is stab in the back?
- Stab in the back can be a noun or a verb.
- What is the plural of stab in the back?
- The plural of stab in the back is stabs in the back.
Words near stab in the back in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: stab in the back (page history and authors); stab in the back (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-au-stab in the back.ogg.
Cite this entry: “stab in the back.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/stab_in_the_back. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.