as in slander
Related Words
Relevance
Dissimilar Words
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of backbiting
Sadly, Sister Wives has really become an experience of criticism and backbiting.
—
Liza Esquibias, PEOPLE, 28 Sep. 2025
The industry functions on a delicate infrastructure of intimidation, backbiting, and the occasional contract amid endless favors, yanking Aasmaan through its machinations like a rag doll in the wind.
—Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 19 Sep. 2025
The Girlfriend does not pretend all of this plotting and backbiting isn’t soapy nonsense.
—Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
Liza Esquibias, PEOPLE, 28 Sep. 2025
The industry functions on a delicate infrastructure of intimidation, backbiting, and the occasional contract amid endless favors, yanking Aasmaan through its machinations like a rag doll in the wind.
—Proma Khosla, IndieWire, 19 Sep. 2025
The Girlfriend does not pretend all of this plotting and backbiting isn’t soapy nonsense.
—Angie Han, HollywoodReporter, 9 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backbiting
Noun
-
Kennedy's attorneys are claiming defamation both in the form of libel and slander, and are alleging civil conspiracy to make false accusations, along with assault, battery, and more.—
Lauren Linder,
CBS News,
4 Feb. 2026
-
Weinberg denied the allegations and sued both women for libel and slander.—
Seth Klamann,
Denver Post,
27 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Shapiro released a special 41-minute episode of his podcast detailing Fuentes’s career of calumnies against Black people, Indian Americans, Jews, and women—and called out Carlson’s refusal to confront the young white supremacist about any of it.—
Yair Rosenberg,
The Atlantic,
4 Feb. 2026
-
The Sermon on the ‘Mount episode also represented, amid the resulting furor on the right, a canny announcement that the collected calumnies of creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are finally available on the Paramount Plus streaming service, after years licensed on Warner Bros.—
David Bloom,
Forbes.com,
28 July 2025
Noun
-
The speech and debate clause, under Article 1, Section 6, of the Constitution, gives these members immunity from liability for defamation when reading the list of names aloud in court.—
Lauren Green,
The Washington Examiner,
10 Feb. 2026
-
In 2023, the Move Forward Party campaigned on curbing royal powers, though efforts to reform Thailand’s draconian royal defamation law, known as lèse-majesté or Article 112, were deemed unconstitutional and led to the party’s dissolution by the Constitutional Court.—
Charlie Campbell,
Time,
9 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Kennedy's attorneys are claiming defamation both in the form of libel and slander, and are alleging civil conspiracy to make false accusations, along with assault, battery, and more.—
Lauren Linder,
CBS News,
4 Feb. 2026
-
Following her termination, Wise filed a lawsuit against the county alleging libel, wrongful termination and tortious interference, according to court documents.—
Kyle Werner,
Des Moines Register,
3 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
With polls indicating that political polarization in the United States is at an all-time high, vilification, and even prosecution, of political opponents has risen as well.—
Bernadette Meyler,
Harpers Magazine,
27 Jan. 2026
-
The vilification on the right of Renee Good in Minneapolis.—
Charlie Warzel,
The Atlantic,
16 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
Aumann’s complaint alleges fraud, tortious interference and business disparagement and other alleged misdeeds.—
Paul Flahive,
Austin American Statesman,
15 Jan. 2026
-
The disparagement made Knausgaard drop writing for a good ten years.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
14 Jan. 2026
Noun
-
But in the end, their stories were deeper than the aspersions cast upon them.—
Hunter Ingram,
Variety,
8 Nov. 2025
-
And in mid-century America, there were so many aspersions to be cast!—
David Merritt Johns,
The Atlantic,
2 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
And maybe less denigration of women and other minorities.—
David Frum,
The Atlantic,
28 Jan. 2026
-
The human costs of this are the increasing rates of illnesses and the financial costs of health care, lost productivity, and the compounding problems of further environmental denigration.—
Suwanna Gauntlett Upjohn,
Forbes.com,
29 Aug. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Backbiting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backbiting. Accessed 15 Feb. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
