Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Sports Made with or using a backhand: a backhanded shot into the opponent's court.
- adj. Oblique or roundabout: a backhanded compliment.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- With the back of the hand: as, a backhanded blow.
- Done or effected with the hand turned backward, crosswise, or in any oblique direction; marked by a backward slope, direction, or effect: as, backhanded writing; a backhanded stroke in sword-play or lawn-tennis. In the latter game a backhanded stroke is one that causes the ball to rotate so as to have a tendency on striking the ground to bound backward in the direction of the striker.
- Figuratively, oblique in meaning; indirect; equivocal; ambiguous; sarcastic: as, a backhanded compliment.
- Twisted in the opposite way from the usual method: said of a rope.
Wiktionary
- adj. With the hand turned backward.
- adj. Indirect; awkward; insincere; sarcastic.
- adj. Turned back
- adj. of writing inclining to the left
- v. Simple past tense and past participle of backhand.
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. With the hand turned backward.
- adj. Indirect; awkward; insincere; sarcastic.
- adj. Turned back, or inclining to the left.
- (Sport) Stroked with a backhand{2}.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. (of racket strokes) made across the body with back of hand facing direction of stroke
- adj. roundabout or ambiguous
Etymologies
- From back + hand + -ed (Wiktionary)
Examples
“MATALIN: That's what we call a backhanded compliment, Lou.”
“In what she calls a "backhanded compliment to bipartisanship," Karlyn Bowman of the American Enterprise Institute says the American public has given high marks to both George W. Bush and Barack Obama on the topic of terrorism.”
“WASHINGTON (AP) - First, Alex Ovechkin backhanded a pass to himself off the boards to get around a defenseman at the blue line.”
“Henrik Sedin backhanded the puck out in front just before he was checked against the end boards by Denis Gauthier.”
“With Zetterberg off for hooking, Sedin backhanded a loose puck past Hasek from the slot.”
“Brylin backhanded Brian Rafalski's rebound past Olie Kolzig for a power-play tally at 6: 22.”
“Spotting Sullivan streaking toward the net, Berezin backhanded a pass that the 5-9 right wing redirected past Hurme on the far side for his fifth goal of the season.”
“Rucchin backhanded a shot from the right circle over Denis 'glove with 4: 44 remaining in the first to give Anaheim a three-goal cushion, but Marshall fired a slap shot from the left circle through a screen and past Giguere at 13: 10 of the second to put Columbus on the board.”
“The constant pressure paid off when Saprykin backhanded Chris”
“After deking Hill, Sundin backhanded a pass to McCabe, who was just above the right circle.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘backhanded’.
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Handy Words
List of words and phrases referring to the hand, hands, fist, or derivatives of the Latin manus, beginning with left-handed.
left-handed, double-fisted, fisticuffs, handy, right-handed, two-handed, manual, manumission, manuscript, manually, manustupration, manudiction and 164 more...
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ways
some of all the ways - always -in every way
way off beam, third way, way of the pilgrim, four way stop, right of way, wrong of way, by the way, way-pane, way to go, way off broadway, way out west, under way and 100 more...
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GRE
Taisha GRE Bible
archaic, archetype, archipelago, architect, archive, arctic, ardor, arduous, argot, arid, armory, arrest and 289 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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neologisms I like
nimrod, snarky, painbow, interrobang, hoser, kooky, craptastic, preggers, asshat, brainiac, shoegaze, skanker-sore and 146 more...
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Front and Back
backchat, backbone, backpack, backhoe, backfire, backhanded, breakfront, beachfront, drawback, effrontery, frontier, switchback and 196 more...
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another yet
anneal, copepod, cuckoo, fathead, intone, patter, cabriole, knickknack, boodle, kit, estrange, forebode and 209 more...
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