Definitions
Sorry, no definitions found. Check out and contribute to the discussion of this word!
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word back-handed.
Examples
-
"I admire and am very proud of the way she leans back and gives orders to the Arab leaders," he said, in what the Post described as a back-handed compliment.
-
Maybe it's because I'm an American with no attention span but I do appreciate the kind of wacky wrap-up question CNN ended with, though clearly the candidates had been given some time to think it over –though if Mitt Romney had more time he wouldn't have picked such a back-handed compliment from Churchill.
-
The back-handed spin that Ms. Feldshuh puts on the word "die," at once contemptuous and terrified, tells you everything you need to know about Mama Rose.
If Mama Was Human Terry Teachout 2012
-
A back-handed, loose blow of his fist could have smashed their skulls like egg-shells.
CHAPTER V 2010
-
What he will get: Another tepid performance complete with rhetorical flourishes that attract back-handed admiration but only serve to highlight his inability to connect with voters.
-
The back-handed compliment here is that those films weren't good enough to merit a wider release.
Trailer trash 2011
-
Was that a back-handed insinuation that a woman who's never run for office is unqualified to run at all?
Joanne Bamberger: Is Elizabeth Warren the "Un"-Candidate? Joanne Bamberger 2011
-
We were criticised for not beating Toulon, just as we were last year when we drew at Leicester, but I take that as a back-handed compliment.
Ospreys look to add ruthless streak to advance in Heineken Cup Paul Rees 2010
-
Was that a back-handed insinuation that a woman who's never run for office is unqualified to run at all?
Joanne Bamberger: Is Elizabeth Warren the "Un"-Candidate? Joanne Bamberger 2011
-
This type of back-handed reporting is why the economy is still in the tank ... everyone just wants to be negative or biased in seeing the Obama administration try to revive this GW Bush failed economy!!!
slumry commented on the word back-handed
see backhanded
June 2, 2015