Word Study
backhanded
CIDE DICTIONARY
backhanded, a.
- With the hand turned backward; as, a backhanded blow. [1913 Webster]
- Indirect; awkward; insincere; sarcastic; as, a backhanded compliment. [1913 Webster]
- Turned back, or inclining to the left; as, backhanded letters. [1913 Webster]
backhanded, a. & adv.
Stroked with a backhand{2}; as, a backhanded drive. [PJC]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
backhanded, adj.
1 (of a blow etc.) delivered with the back of the hand, or in a direction opposite to the usual one.
2 indirect; ambiguous (a backhanded compliment).
3 = BACKHAND adj.
1 (of a blow etc.) delivered with the back of the hand, or in a direction opposite to the usual one.
2 indirect; ambiguous (a backhanded compliment).
3 = BACKHAND adj.
THESAURUS
backhanded
O-shaped, abusive, ambagious, atrocious, backhand, calumnious, circuitous, circular, contumelious, deflectional, degrading, deviant, deviating, deviative, devious, digressive, discursive, divagational, divergent, excursive, helical, humiliating, indirect, insolent, insulting, left-handed, meandering, oblique, offensive, orbital, out-of-the-way, outrageous, rotary, round, roundabout, scurrile, scurrilous, side, sidelong, sinister, sinistral, spiral, unspeakableROGET THESAURUS
backhanded
Circuit
N circuit, roundabout way, digression, detour, circumbendibus, ambages, loop, winding, zigzag, circuitous, indirect, roundabout, zigzag, backhanded, by a side wind, by an indirect course, in a roundabout way, from pillar to post.For further exploring for "backhanded" in Webster Dictionary Online