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backhanded
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As an adjective, backhanded means with the back of the hand. As an adverb, it means in a backhanded manner.
Meanings of backhanded
11 meaningsadjective
With the back of the hand.
Involving a backward flip of the hand.
Insincere, sarcastic, ironic, or self-contradictory.
Indirect.
Backwards, turned around.
of writingInclining to the left
Retrospective, occurring after the fact rather than in advance.
Self-serving, corrupt, slipshod, or neglectful.
(of racket strokes) made across the body with back of hand facing direction of stroke
Similar: backhandRoundabout or ambiguous
“attacks from that source amounted to a backhanded compliment to his integrity”
“a backhanded and dishonest way of reaching his goal”
verb
Simple past tense and past participle of backhand
adverb
In a backhanded manner.
Meanings from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet (CC BY 4.0).