backbite

verb

1. To make spiteful slanderous or defamatory statements about someone.

   They beguiled the time by backbiting and intriguing against each other in a foolish kind of way.

2. To attack from behind or when out of earshot with spiteful or defamatory remarks.

   informal

3. To speak badly of an absent individual.

Where it comes from

From Middle English bakbiten, bacbiten, equivalent to back- + bite. Cognate with Icelandic bakbíta (“to backbite, vilify”).

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry backbite (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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