as in off-the-record
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Recent Examples of back-channel
In July 1971, Henry Kissinger, then national security adviser to President Richard Nixon, arrived in Beijing on his famous secret mission — the back-channel visit that helped re-open the door between two countries that had little direct contact for more than two decades.
—
Xianda Huang, The Conversation, 16 May 2026
The messiness of a 13-year scientific undertaking, the back-channel negotiations, the philosophical disagreements, the institutional maneuvering — none of that fits neatly into an obituary.
—Zachary Utz, STAT, 15 May 2026
The indictment alleges that after the NIH terminated a bat coronavirus grant to EcoHealth Alliance, Morens and co-conspirators pledged to help restore the grant and used back-channel communications to influence NIH funding decisions while deliberately avoiding transparency requirements.
—Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2026
At the center of the potential outreach is Vice President JD Vance, who is being considered for a return trip to Islamabad, where back-channel negotiations have quietly taken place.
—Sara Cook, CBS News, 17 Apr. 2026
Epstein, the records show, tried to initiate a back-channel meeting between the Saudi crown prince and Qatar’s ex-prime minister.
—Miami Herald, 8 Apr. 2026
Elyssa Slotkin, Jeanne Shaheen, and Tim Kaine to back-channel conversations have been poo-poo’d by party leadership as unhelpful.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 18 Mar. 2026
Both the president’s team and the rule-of-law defenders launched back-channel negotiations with the capitalists.
—Michael Scherer, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2026
Pras was also accused of using this money to create a back-channel campaign to extradite the Chinese dissident Guo Wengui back to China from the United States.
—Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Nov. 2025
Xianda Huang, The Conversation, 16 May 2026
The messiness of a 13-year scientific undertaking, the back-channel negotiations, the philosophical disagreements, the institutional maneuvering — none of that fits neatly into an obituary.
—Zachary Utz, STAT, 15 May 2026
The indictment alleges that after the NIH terminated a bat coronavirus grant to EcoHealth Alliance, Morens and co-conspirators pledged to help restore the grant and used back-channel communications to influence NIH funding decisions while deliberately avoiding transparency requirements.
—Business Columnist, Los Angeles Times, 30 Apr. 2026
At the center of the potential outreach is Vice President JD Vance, who is being considered for a return trip to Islamabad, where back-channel negotiations have quietly taken place.
—Sara Cook, CBS News, 17 Apr. 2026
Epstein, the records show, tried to initiate a back-channel meeting between the Saudi crown prince and Qatar’s ex-prime minister.
—Miami Herald, 8 Apr. 2026
Elyssa Slotkin, Jeanne Shaheen, and Tim Kaine to back-channel conversations have been poo-poo’d by party leadership as unhelpful.
—Philip Elliott, Time, 18 Mar. 2026
Both the president’s team and the rule-of-law defenders launched back-channel negotiations with the capitalists.
—Michael Scherer, The Atlantic, 22 Jan. 2026
Pras was also accused of using this money to create a back-channel campaign to extradite the Chinese dissident Guo Wengui back to China from the United States.
—Ryan Coleman, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Nov. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for back-channel
Adjective
-
In February, Carro held a 27-minute, off-the-record bench conference during an otherwise public hearing.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
3 June 2026
-
Conecta Summit, an invitation-only session, will bring together 20 senior international executives from studios, streamers, production companies and big tech in a closed-door, off-the-record setting.—
Emiliano de Pablos,
Variety,
11 May 2026
Adjective
-
Rubio, who is also Trump’s national security adviser, was one of three U.S. officials to participate in a closed-door meeting with the Russian delegation on Friday in Alaska.—
Alexis Simendinger,
The Hill,
20 Aug. 2025
-
The revelation was made by House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer (R-KY) after Barr testified in a closed-door interview during the House Oversight Committee’s investigation of the federal government’s handling of Epstein’s case.—
Washington Examiner Staff,
The Washington Examiner,
19 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
Polk estimates that the majority of gamblers who don’t have other sources of income, such as sponsorships or social media channels, will either fail to turn a profit under the new rules or begin playing in more off-the-books games.—
Ryan Ermey,
CNBC,
21 Apr. 2026
-
In 1985, Marty McFly (played by Lucas Hallauer) is a skateboarding high schooler who is accidentally sent back to 1955 in a time machine — ensconced in a DeLorean sports car — by nutty off-the-books scientist Doc Brown (David Josefsberg).—
Rod Stafford Hagwood,
Sun Sentinel,
5 Feb. 2026
Adjective
-
That similarly clandestine spot is tucked in the mail sorting room of Hotel Phillips downtown.—
Kansas City Star,
Kansas City Star,
29 May 2026
-
Nicknamed Zvezdny Gorodok, or Star City/Starry Town, this clandestine base of operations was built beside the Tsiolkovskaya railway station served by the Yaroslavl Railroad.—
Jeff Spry,
Space.com,
27 May 2026
Adjective
-
TiVo is often chastised for being surreptitious about its data collection practices and its failure to provide a clear privacy policy.—
Encyclopedia Britannica,
Encyclopedia Britannica,
14 May 2026
-
The upside of the bar's surreptitious locale is sometimes not having to share it with a soul; the downside is the potential lack of a pool partner, so bring your own.—
Condé Nast,
Condé Nast Traveler,
30 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
In mid-January, as Iran crushed wide-scale protests with the mass killing of demonstrators, Israel prepared a covert mission along the Azerbaijan-Iran border, two of the sources familiar with the plans told CNN.—
Tal Shalev,
CNN Money,
5 June 2026
-
The facility's revelation came less than two years after North Korea unveiled another covert uranium-enrichment plant in September 2024, in its first public disclosure of such a facility since showing one at the country's main Yongbyon nuclear complex to visiting American scholars in 2010.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
4 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Back-channel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/back-channel. Accessed 7 Jun. 2026.
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