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backhanded compliment

noun

Etymology

Compound of backhanded + compliment. Similar figurative uses of backhanded are attested from at least the early 19th century.

Definitions

  1. An insult disguised as a compliment

    An insult disguised as a compliment; a compliment which can be interpreted as an insult.

    • Perhaps, finally, the Netherlands will shed itself of the backhanded compliment of being the best team never to win a world championship.
    • In a backhanded compliment, Markopolos said the SEC is a "bad regulator, but the best of a very sorry lot."

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for backhanded compliment. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA