backdoor

adjective

back·​door ˈbak-ˈdȯr 

1

: indirect, devious

2

: involving or being a play in basketball in which a player moves behind the defense and toward the basket to receive a quick pass

a backdoor layup

Examples of backdoor in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The Forest Service reorganization is a backdoor way to achieve some of the same goals: during Trump’s first term, his Administration moved the B.L.M. headquarters from Washington to Colorado, which led many of its key employees to quit. —Bill McKibben, New Yorker, 7 Apr. 2026

Federal officials can then query that data and unmask the identities of Americans whose communications have been collected, a process critics say creates a backdoor way to search private citizens’ information without court approval. —Kaelan Deese, The Washington Examiner, 25 Mar. 2026

For households above the MAGI thresholds, the backdoor Roth strategy may be worth researching separately, though the source material here addresses direct contributions. —Allison Palmer, Miami Herald, 17 Mar. 2026

This sliding pad save to rob a backdoor one-timer by Toronto’s ​​Matias Maccelli (No. 63) on Feb. 26 is a good recent example of how Bobrovsky still has it. —Jesse Granger, New York Times, 5 Mar. 2026

Word History

First Known Use

1805, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for backdoor

• abhor
• abor
• adore
• afore
• ardour
• ashore
• before
• bookstore
• candour
• centaur
• claymore
• decor