backbiting meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

backbiting

noun

Etymology From Middle English bakbitynge, bacbiting, bacbitung, equivalent to backbite + -ing.

The action of slandering a person without that person's knowledge.

[…]ending his epistle by saying, "that his uncle having doubtless lent his ear to some old woman's tales and backbiting, he did not choose to place his property in the hands of a spendthrift,[…]1838, [Letitia Elizabeth] Landon (indicated as editor), chapter V, in Duty and Inclination: […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 49:
She was not given to backbiting—though, when stirred by any motive near to her own belongings, she would say an illnatured word or two.1860 July – 1861 June (date written), Anthony Trollope, Orley Farm. […], volume II, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1862, →OCLC, page 138:

adj

Etymology From Middle English bakbytynge, equivalent to backbite + -ing.

Slanderous or speaking badly, especially of a person without that person's knowledge.

Backbiting talk that flattering blabs know wily how to blenge.1580, Thomas Tusser, A hundreth good pointes of husbandrie:
Am I to have a backbiting wife?1873, Rhoda Broughton, Nancy:

1 more example

If the world’s premier A.I. start-up can so easily plunge into crisis over backbiting behavior and slippery ideas of wrongdoing, can it be trusted to advance a technology that may have untold effects on billions of people?2023 December 9, Tripp Mickle, Cade Metz, Mike Isaac, Karen Weise, “Inside OpenAI’s Crisis Over the Future of Artificial Intelligence”, in The New York Times, →ISSN:

Entry derived from the Wiktionary, under licence CC BY-SA 4.0 — list of authors.