BACKSTAB Synonyms: 24 Similar and Opposite Words

backstab

verb

Definition of backstab next

as in to betray

to be unfaithful or disloyal to knew what it felt like to be backstabbed by a so-called friend

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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 backstab Of the 24 cast members who make up Survivor 50, there are plenty whose skills set them up as a huge threat, either for their strategic minds, their willingness to backstab, or their likeability factor. —

Joe Reid, Vulture, 25 Feb. 2026 One of them tried to backstab the hero, the other one helped raise the terrible, evil god that the hero had to defeat. —

Lisa Deaderick, San Diego Union-Tribune, 22 Nov. 2025 Friends can lie, colleagues can backstab, anyone can die in any number of brutal ways. —

Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 28 Aug. 2025 Many of the women are status-obsessed and needy, quick to backstab other women to reach the top. —

Literary Hub june 21, Literary Hub, 21 June 2023

Recent Examples of Synonyms for backstab

betray

Verb

During her testimony on Wednesday, the wife said all three of those officials and their security officers betrayed her husband by failing to protect him when the couple was under attack.

— Jacqueline Charles, Miami Herald, 11 Mar. 2026
In this future, the lines between musical genres are blurred, the rapper herself is a household name, and Black women live nuanced lives that do not require us to betray our multiplicity and magnitude.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 9 Mar. 2026