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.

His positional awareness has also earned praise although his work-rate and desire to cover as much ground as possible mean he often tires himself out - a potential backhanded compliment.

From BBC • Mar. 30, 2026

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

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

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 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