0 A backhanded remark seems pleasant but may really be a criticism or mean something unkind: --
a backhanded compliment
1 (of something said) not clear and usually meaning the opposite of what it seems to mean: --
Her backhanded compliments annoyed everyone.
Let us admit that there is a weakness in the scheme and that the higher paid members of the community are being given some backhanded relief.
It would be like playing golf backhanded.
Would that not be a backhanded argument?
I do not know whether it is a backhanded way of getting rid of me.
If you really mean that, then say it in the proper way and not in this backhanded way.
Why cannot people stop using the words, "the working man", as a sort of backhanded sneer at management—a sneer at the boss?
Backhanded though it was, there could be no greater compliment to the effectiveness of the agency and its leaders.
I do not think it is so much criticism, as in the nature of a backhanded compliment.
