backhanded

They may also chip away at your mood slowly, through backhanded compliments or pressuring you to be upbeat, where they don't allow you to express how you are really feeling.

Between the actors' silent conversations and the nuances of envy and backhanded slights White conveys through dialogue, these friends brutally play out the intimacy gap that can doom vintage friendships.

Classics YouTube channel, though these are mostly — maybe entirely — extracted highlights rather than full cartoons, which is its own kind of backhanded insult.

Between the actor’s silent conversations and the nuances of envy and backhanded slights White conveys through dialogue, these friends brutally play out the intimacy gap that can doom vintage friendships.

In past seasons, that description might have landed as a backhanded compliment — a “nice try” in the wake of some form-breaking comedy’s ascension as a critical darling.