backhandedness

back·hand·ed

 (băk′hăn′dĭd)

adj.

1. Sports Made with or using a backhand: a backhanded shot into the opponent's court.

2. Oblique or roundabout: "Maybe [avant-garde novels'] frustrating lack of plot is a backhanded tribute to plots" (Harvey Cox).

3. Having derogatory or insulting implications: "Everyone...said how wonderful, how glamorous she looked, but even that was a sort of backhanded compliment, with the unspoken addendum, for your age" (Freda Warrington).

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back′hand′ed·ly adv.

back′hand′ed·ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.