back-channel

adjective

Definition of back-channelnext
as in off-the-record

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for back-channel
  1. off-the-record
  2. closed-door
  3. off-the-books
  4. clandestine
  5. surreptitious
  6. covert
Adjective
  • Dialog has been described as Bilderberg (an off-the-record gathering of political and business elite) meets Silicon Valley salon.
    — Mary Whitfill Roeloffs, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026
  • As late as last week, Weiss was still expected to speak at The Seminar, an off-the-record gathering of PR professionals in Scottsdale, Arizona.
    — Max Tani, semafor.com, 8 June 2026
Definition of off-the-record
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
Definition of closed-door
Adjective
  • In Disclosure Day, cybersecurity expert Daniel Kellner (O’Connor) steals files confirming alien contact from the Wardex Corporation, an off-the-books non-governmental organization.
    — Tim Lammers, Forbes.com, 13 June 2026
  • But statistics fail to convey the humanity of yard sales—the caprice, whimsy, and high spirits, as well as the cunning, weirdness, and heartbreak, that charge and thicken the air when two people agree to perform an off-the-books monetary transaction.
    — Caity Weaver, The Atlantic, 12 June 2026
Definition of off-the-books
Adjective
  • In the past, drug traffickers approached the community seeking to build a clandestine airstrip inside their territory.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 July 2026
  • The film’s trailer, guided by the unofficial Mayor of the Marquis, Billy Bob Thornton, hints at the tales of wild nights, impromptu poolside concerts, and a clandestine stairway excursion.
    — Charisma Madarang, Rolling Stone, 22 July 2026
Definition of clandestine
Adjective
  • New York is banning smart glasses in courts across the state, pointing to the threat of surreptitious video recordings.
    — Michael Kan, PC Magazine, 9 July 2026
  • These cybercriminals are like the Hollywood movie character Jason Bourne, a highly surreptitious operative who avoids detection through diversion, disguises, deflecting and blending into the environment.
    — Eric Herzog, Forbes.com, 23 June 2026
Definition of surreptitious
Adjective
  • Undersea infrastructure like optical fiber internet cables, pipelines, sensor arrays are vulnerable to covert UUV operations.
    — Aditya Jadhav, Interesting Engineering, 24 July 2026
  • Pickaxe Mountain is near Iran’s Natanz Nuclear Complex, where an explosion in July 2020, possibly caused by a covert Israeli attack, caused serious damage to the country’s nuclear program.
    — Stephanie Pappas, Scientific American, 23 July 2026
Definition of covert

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backbreaking
back-channel
backchat
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Cite this Entry

“Back-channel.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/back-channel. Accessed 26 Jul. 2026.

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