BACKBITING Synonyms: 42 Similar and Opposite Words

backbiting

noun

as in slander

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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 backbiting In the meantime, Democrats have seemingly resolved at least one 2028 fight, a fracas marked by snarking, backbiting and plenty of acrimony — all the things that make our politics such a grand and glorious endeavor. — Los Angeles Times, 2 Aug. 2026 Andy Burnham, Britain’s soon-to-be prime minister, wants an array of bold new policies to attract voters who have grown tired of a Labour government mired in indecision and political backbiting. — Philip Aldrick, Fortune, 28 June 2026 There’s also a fair amount of political mudslinging and backbiting. — Matthew Adams, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 4 June 2026 Sadly, Sister Wives has really become an experience of criticism and backbiting. — Liza Esquibias, PEOPLE, 28 Sep. 2025 The industry functions on a delicate infrastructure of intimidation, backbiting, and the occasional contract amid endless favors, yanking Aasmaan through its machinations like a rag doll in the wind. — Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 19 Sep. 2025 The Girlfriend does not pretend all of this plotting and backbiting isn’t soapy nonsense. — Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025 The depictions of the New York literati scene, with its backbiting and wary camaraderie, are effective but all too brief. — Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor, 3 Apr. 2025

Recent Examples of Synonyms for backbiting

Noun

David Brouillette denied the allegations in court filings and accused the unnamed ex-wife of slander, the AP reports, but she was granted a temporary protective order on behalf of the daughter in 2021.

— Alison Durkee, Forbes.com, 17 July 2026
The French influencer Eros Brousson strikes again – this time with Waffle House slander.

— Ella Gonzales, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 17 June 2026

Definition of slander

Noun

Pratt was just another angry New Yorker hectoring calumnies against all forms of authority.

— Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 14 May 2026
The declaration also highlights the need to report facts, not suppress or falsify information, and avoid discrimination, bribery, and calumny.

— Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 11 May 2026

Definition of calumny

Noun

Aside from Baldoni, Wallace’s other clients have included actress Rebel Wilson, who is now embroiled in her own defamation litigation with Amanda Ghost, a producer on her film The Deb.

— Gary Baum, HollywoodReporter, 28 Sep. 2026
Oxygen Forensics denied those claims and sued Weissberg for defamation in August in federal court in Virginia, calling the video part of a retaliatory campaign.

— Anniek Bao,Dan Mangan, CNBC, 25 Sep. 2026

Definition of defamation

Noun

This appears in defenses of Macklemore’s conduct and the vilification of the owners.

— Kenneth L. Marcus, New York Daily News, 25 Sep. 2026
But its cultural dominance became bound up in a widespread vilification of Drake that curdled online, where the most damning interpretation of anything could quickly become the accepted one.

— Jeff Ihaza, Rolling Stone, 14 Sep. 2026

Definition of vilification

Noun

Iamaleava could have allowed the disparagement to compound, but the starting signal-caller is using it as fuel for a 2026 season where many have the Bruins painted as a potential dark horse.

— Connor Dullinger, Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug. 2026
Her mother, meanwhile, is backed up by her second husband (Kwon), a mild-mannered documentary filmmaker whose profession gives his wife yet more ammunition in her smiling disparagement of Sanghee.

— Guy Lodge, Variety, 15 Aug. 2026

Definition of disparagement

Noun

The Tigers’ middling performance against Troy and sloppy play in spurts has cast some aspersions on their aspirations.

— PJ Green September 22, Kansas City Star, 22 Sep. 2026
Who might emerge as the provocateur of the Premier League touchline and who might cast dark aspersions in press conferences?

— Adam Crafton, New York Times, 21 Aug. 2026

Definition of aspersion

Noun

Freedom, mobility; who gets to be an artist; style, ornamentation, artifice; work, leisure; the counterculture; the denigration of femininity; West Coast oddballism.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 15 Sep. 2026
For me, this marks an early moment in the denigration of women.

— Eana Kim, ARTnews.com, 27 Apr. 2026

Definition of denigration

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backbeats

backbiting

backbone

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“Backbiting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backbiting. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.

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Synonyms of backbiting

noun

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