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Showing results for backhanded. Search instead for backwinded.
Synonyms

backhanded

American  
[bak-han-did] / ˈbækˌhæn dɪd /

adjective

  1. performed with the hand turned backward, crosswise, or in any oblique direction so that the palm of the hand faces in the direction of the body and the back of the hand faces in the direction of forward movement.

  2. sloping in a downward direction from left to right.

    backhanded writing.

  3. oblique or ambiguous in meaning; indirect; insincere or malicious; wry.

    backhanded methods; a backhanded compliment.

  4. Ropemaking. noting a rope in which the yarns and the strands are laid in the same direction, the rope itself being laid in the opposite direction.

adverb

  1. with the hand across the body; backhand.

    He caught the ball backhanded.
backhanded British  
/ ˌbækˈhændɪd /

adjective

  1. (of a blow, shot, stroke, etc) performed with the arm moving across the body

  2. double-edged; equivocal

    a backhanded compliment

  3. (of handwriting) slanting to the left

  4. (of a rope) twisted in the opposite way to the normal right-handed direction

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

adverb

  1. in a backhanded manner

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Other Word Forms

  • backhandedly adverb
  • backhandedness noun

Etymology

Origin of backhanded

First recorded in 1790–1800; back 2 + handed

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

That No 10 feels the need to criticise the Greens is a backhanded compliment that shows they matter.

From BBC • Jan. 31, 2026

Last Thanksgiving was full of backhanded compliments and pointed remarks.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 27, 2025

In a 1919 review of a pair of books by Theodore Dreiser, Virginia Woolf issued some exquisitely backhanded praise for the Indiana-born author, whose writing, she thought, stood out for its roughness and vitality.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

Classics YouTube channel, though these are mostly — maybe entirely — extracted highlights rather than full cartoons, which is its own kind of backhanded insult.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2025

This is what one calls a backhanded compliment.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.