Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. The backpressure in an internal-combustion engine or a boiler.
- n. Powder residue that is released upon automatic ejection of a spent cartridge or shell from a firearm.
- n. The effect caused by recirculation into the source country of disinformation previously planted abroad by that country's intelligence service in an effort to mislead the government of another country.
Wiktionary
- n. firearms A type of action where the pressure from the fired cartridge blows a sliding mechanism backward to extract the fired cartridge, chamber another cartridge, and cock the hammer.
- n. An unintended adverse result, especially of a political action.
- n. slang The act of shotgunning (inhaling from a pipe etc. and exhaling into another smoker's mouth).
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. the backward escape of unburned gunpowder after a shot.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the backward escape of gases and unburned gunpowder after a gun is fired
- n. misinformation resulting from the recirculation into the source country of disinformation previously planted abroad by that country's intelligence service
Etymologies
- blow + back (Wiktionary)
Examples
“In much of the intelligence community, the term blowback is used to describe the unintended consequences that, often after providing support, assistance or aid, develop against ones intended goal or overall interests.”
“You know, Tony Blair is been -- the former Prime Minister Tony Blair who just stepped down this week, was very clear in speaking about what he called blowback, blowback meaning that Britain becomes much more of a significant target because of everything that goes on in Iraq and because of the fact that they're involved in Iraq.”
“If the late Chalmers Johnson, who made the word "blowback" part of our everyday language, happens to be looking down on American policy from some niche in heaven, he must be grimly amused by the brain-dead way our top officials blithely continue to try to bulldoze the Pakistanis.”
“The CIA coined the term blowback in a document about the coup when describing the fallout of such actions.”
“The CIA knew that with this slaughter would come terrorist retribution, which they dubbed blowback, although that specific application of the word went unexamined by a media obsessed with the oval office ministrations of a Miss Monica Lewinsky.”
“The fear-mongering by the GOP will result in blowback yet again.”
“Someone who engages in behavior that produces threats and danger and then refuses to accept their role in this while “whining” about blowback is the definition of a retard.”
“The resulting blowback is going to be a bitch, particularly if the Teapublicans gain power and can no longer blame Obama for everything.”
The Huffington Post: Mark Olmsted: No Pizza, No Peace: The New Poor and the Coming Blowback
“I think that we're waiting to try and figure out what the blowback is from that.”
“The blowback from a more compassionate drug policy would be to reduce the funds going to criminals and the Taliban.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘blowback’.
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vinyl's Words
deliverator, finna, metric fuckton, fag, hyphy, ginormous, sacrilicious, fantabulous, macaca, n-word, pterodactyl, genious and 560 more...
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Politrix
Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?
vexillology, blowback, impunity, extraterritoriality, plenipotentiary, filibuster, pundit, jingoistic, gerrymander, swiftboat, espionage, ipsedixitism and 151 more...
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favorite words
sawbones, grackle, celadon, brio, loam, trull, mint, saliva, serape, frisson, impasto, reek and 547 more...
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learning
A list of words whose meanings I am learning, either because a) I don't know the meaning b) I know the meaning, but could stand to better appreciate certain inflections or secondary meanings or c) ...
louche, educe, loam, cob, sclerotic, palliate, axial, syndicalist, ecumenical, sally, fatuous, parvenu and 1381 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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simple & useful13
rookeries, bottommost, nettlesome, extravaganza, galoot, gun moll, kludge, pollyannaish, bushwhacking, revivable, flourishing, resurgence and 97 more...
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How does that coincide with your post...
It's not democracy, it's politics.
think tank, 527, talking head, gerrymander, soft money, nimby, dino, rino, astroturf, talking points, push poll, big lie and 45 more...
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Politics
meritocratic, blowback, entitlement, medicaid, Medicare, malpractice, outgrowth, allegation, mull, facility, advanced, gadfly and 18 more...
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trendy words and phrases
teachable moment, tipping point, astroturfing, locavore, aquaculture, tentpole, jag, vom, weaksauce, juggalo, quantitative easing, nymwars and 15 more...
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Secret Agent Man
Wanna know how to be a spy? Sorry, that's classified. But this list can teach you how to talk like one.
black-bag job, floater, dog drag, l pill, national agent, sheep dipping, dry clean, operation slammer, foots, wet affairs, walk the cat, piano and 16 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for blowback.
bilby "Anti-terrorism laws are not meant for terrorists; they're for people that governments don't like. That's why they have a conviction rate of less than 2%. They're just a means of putting inconvenient people away without bail for a long time and eventually letting them go.
Terrorists like those who attacked Mumbai are hardly likely to be deterred by the prospect of being refused bail or being sentenced to death. It's what they want.
What we're experiencing now is blowback, the cumulative result of decades of quick fixes and dirty deeds. The carpet's squelching under our feet."
- Arundhati Roy, '9 Is Not 11 (And November Isn't September)', tomdispatch.com, 12 December 2008. Dec 14, 2008