backhanded

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Last Thanksgiving was full of backhanded compliments and pointed remarks.

From MarketWatch • Nov. 27, 2025

In a 1919 review of a pair of books by Theodore Dreiser, Virginia Woolf issued some exquisitely backhanded praise for the Indiana-born author, whose writing, she thought, stood out for its roughness and vitality.

From The Wall Street Journal • Nov. 7, 2025

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.

From BBC • Sep. 28, 2025

The high-stakes romantic comedy “Oh, Hi!” is a backhanded compliment to lotharios like Rudolph Valentino, James Bond and “The Wolf of Wall Street’s” Jordan Belfort.

From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 24, 2025

This outwardly aloof but blatantly defensive tone seemed to acknowledge, in its backhanded way, that his critics had struck a nerve.

From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis