Backhanded

Definitions: Backhanded

Backhanded

Adjective

1. (of racket strokes) made across the body with back of hand facing direction of stroke.

2. Roundabout or ambiguous; "attacks from tht source amounted to a backhanded compliment to his integrity"; "a backhanded and dishonest way of reaching his goal".

Date "backhanded" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1869. (references)

Synonym: Backhanded

Synonym: backhand(a) (adj). (additional references)

Antonym: forehand(a) (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Circuit	Adjective: circuitous, indirect, roundabout; zigzag; (deviating); backhanded.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Backhanded

English words defined with "backhanded": Backhandedness, Backhander ♦ Punto reverso. (references)

Domain	Title
Books	A Backhanded View of the Law: Irreverent Essays on Justice (reference) Underhanded Backgammon: A Devious Guide to the Art of Backhanded Backgammon (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

"Backhanded" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 78.95% of the time. "Backhanded" is used about 19 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	78.95%	15	90,616
Lexical Verb (past tense)	21.05%	4	175,879
Total	100.00%	19	N/A

Expression using "backhanded": backhanded compliment. Additional references.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "backhanded"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Chinese		反拍. (various references)

Czech		dvojsmyslný (ambiguous, double-minded, equivocal). (various references)

German		zweifelhaft (doubtable, doubtful, dubious, dubiously, funny, hypothetic, iffy, left handed, questionable, seedy, shady, uncertain, unsavory, unsavoury), nach links geneigt, hinterruegs. (various references)

Indonesian		sindiran (allusion, crank, quibble, satire). (various references)

Italian		ambiguo (ambidexter, ambiguous, devious, doubtful, equivocal). (various references)

Pig Latin		ackhandedbay.(various references)

Portuguese		sarcástico (acrid, ironical, pungent, sarcastic, sardonic, scathing, sneering, squint eyed), insincero (disingenuous, insincere, unctuous), ed (European Democratic Group), desajeitado (awkward, blundering, boorish, bulky, bumbling, chuckle, cloddish, clownish, clumsy, cubbish, floppy, fumbling, gawky, graceless, hawbuck, hobbler, homely, Hull, ill mannered, ill-favored, ill-favoured, inexpert, left handed, lout, loutish, low-bred, lubber, lubberly, maladroit, muff, shiftless, uncouth, ungainly, ungraceful, unhandy, unskilful, unwieldy, wooden). (various references)

Russian		сомнительный (disputable, doubtful, dubious, equivocal, fishy, indeterminate, queer, questionable, suspicious, uncertain). (various references)

Spanish		ambiguo (ambiguous, bisexual, double, double-barrelled, doubtful, equivocal, equivocally, left handed). (various references)

Swedish		backhands-, tvetydig (ambiguous, double-barrelled, dubious, equivocal, indecent, left handed, suggestive). (various references)

Turkish		belirsiz (ambiguous, clouded, cloudy, cloudyly, dubious, dusty, equivocal, foggy, fuzzy, hazy, in the balance, indefinable, indefinite, indescribable, indeterminate, indistinct, inglorious, lax, misty, obscure, off color, off colour, precarious, shadowy, uncertain, unclear, undefined, undetermined, unsettled, vague), sola yatık, kapalı (cloistered, close, closed, cloudy, cloudyly, covered, enclosed, Gray, grey, impenetrable, indoor, muggy, murky, off, overcast, privy, sable, sealed, secluded, shut, skyless, sullen, unopened), iki anlamlı (ambiguous, delphic, double, equivocal, two-edged), elin tersiyle yapılan. (various references)

Vietnamese		trái, không th� nh thật (devious, disingenuous, double, double-faced, hollow-hearted). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Derivations
	Words beginning with "backhanded": backhandedly. (additional references)
Misspellings
	"Backhanded" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: cackhanded. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "backhanded" (pronounced ba"kha'ndud)
5	-a' n d u d	reprimanded.
4	-n d u d	abounded, amended, appended, apprehended, ascended, astounded, attended, banded, befriended, bended, blended, blinded, bonded, bounded, branded, candid, commanded, commended, compounded, comprehended, confounded, contended, corresponded, defended, demanded, depended, descended, disbanded, distended, dumbfounded, ended, evenhanded, expanded, expended, expounded, extended, fended, founded, funded, grounded, handed, hounded, impounded, intended, landed, masterminded, mended, minded, offended, overextended, overfunded, pounded, pretended, propounded, rebounded, recommended, refunded, remanded, reminded, rescinded, responded, rounded, sanded, seconded, sounded, splendid, stranded, surrounded, suspended, tended, transcended, trended, unamended, unattended, unbounded, unbranded, underfunded, underhanded, unfounded, unfunded, unintended, winded, wounded.
3	-d u d	abided, acceded, accorded, added, afforded, aided, alluded, applauded, avoided, awarded, barricaded, beaded, bearded, bedded, beheaded, bladed, blindfolded, blindsided, blockaded, blooded, boarded, bombarded, braided, breaded, broadsided, brooded, carded, cascaded, ceded, chided, clouded, coded, coincided, collided, colluded, conceded, concluded, confided, corded, corroded, crowded, decided, deeded, defrauded, degraded, deluded, denuded, derided, discarded, disregarded, dissuaded, divided, downgraded, downloaded, dreaded, eluded, embedded, encoded, enshrouded, eroded, evaded, exceeded, excluded, exploded, extruded, exuded, faded, feuded, fielded, flooded, folded, forwarded, gilded, glided, goaded, graded, guarded, guided, hardheaded, headed, heeded, heralded, herded, hoarded, homesteaded, hooded, imbedded, impeded, imploded, included, interceded, intruded, invaded, jaded, kidded, larded, lauded, leaded, lightheaded, loaded, lopsided, melded, misguided, molded, muddleheaded, needed, nodded, outmoded, overcrowded, overloaded, padded, paraded, persuaded, pervaded, pleaded, plodded, preceded, precluded, prerecorded, presided, prided, proceeded, prodded, provided, raided, railroaded, receded, recorded, redheaded, regarded, reloaded, remolded, resided, retarded, rewarded, safeguarded, scalded, scolded, seceded, secluded, seeded, serenaded, shaded, shepherded, shielded, shredded, shrouded, sided, skidded, sordid, spearheaded, speeded, stampeded, studded, subdivided, subsided, succeeded, superseded, threaded, traded, unaided, undecided, undivided, unexploded, unfolded, unguarded, unheeded, unheralded, unimpeded, unleaded, unloaded, unneeded, unrecorded, upbraided, upgraded, voided, wadded, waded, warded, wedded, weeded, welded, wielded, wooded, worded, wrongheaded, yielded.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-a-b-c-d-d-e-h-k-n"
	-2 letters: backhand, deckhand, headband.
	-4 letters: bached, backed, banded, banked, danced, hacked, handed, hanked, keddah.
	-5 letters: aahed, aback, ached, acned, ahead, baaed, baked, baned, beach, bench, caked, caned, dacha, dance, hacek, haded, hance, kench, kheda, knead, naked.
	Words containing the letters "a-a-b-c-d-d-e-h-k-n"
	+2 letters: backhandedly.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.