Associations to the word «Backhanded»

Wiktionary

BACKHANDED, adjective. With the back of the hand.
BACKHANDED, adjective. Involving a backward flip of the hand.
BACKHANDED, adjective. Insincere, sarcastic, ironic, or self-contradictory.
BACKHANDED, adjective. Indirect.
BACKHANDED, adjective. Backwards, turned around.
BACKHANDED, adjective. (of writing) inclining to the left
BACKHANDED, adjective. Retrospective, occurring after the fact rather than in advance.
BACKHANDED, adjective. Self-serving, corrupt, slipshod, or neglectful.
BACKHANDED, verb. Simple past tense and past participle of backhand
BACKHANDED, adverb. In a backhanded manner.
BACKHANDED COMPLIMENT, noun. (idiomatic) An insult disguised as a compliment; a compliment which can be interpreted as an insult.
BACKHANDED COMPLIMENTS, noun. Plural of backhanded compliment

Dictionary definition

BACKHANDED, adjective. (of racket strokes) made across the body with back of hand facing direction of stroke.
BACKHANDED, adjective. Roundabout or ambiguous; "attacks from that source amounted to a backhanded compliment to his integrity"; "a backhanded and dishonest way of reaching his goal".

Wise words

A word is not a crystal, transparent and unchanged; it is the skin of a living thought and may vary greatly in color and content according to the circumstances and time in which it is used.
Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.