as in traitors
one who betrays a trust or an allegiance
a backstabber taking credit for work she didn't do while bad-mouthing the rest of the team to the boss
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Recent Examples of backstabbers
The result is a scathing takedown that will find techies throughout the Valley looking over their shoulders and speculating on who is who amongst the show’s motley collection of fictional backstabbers obsessed with growing their profit margin and amassing wealth and power.
—
Randy Myers, Mercury News, 7 Apr. 2026
There were no suggestions that good family friends were liars or backstabbers, no angry exchanges between a man’s wife and the same man’s sister.
—Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 21 Jan. 2026
Prayer mats lie next to heavy artillery; smoke billows from parked whips; backstabbers get cut first.
—Pitchfork, 10 Dec. 2025
Randy Myers, Mercury News, 7 Apr. 2026
There were no suggestions that good family friends were liars or backstabbers, no angry exchanges between a man’s wife and the same man’s sister.
—Alex Gurley, PEOPLE, 21 Jan. 2026
Prayer mats lie next to heavy artillery; smoke billows from parked whips; backstabbers get cut first.
—Pitchfork, 10 Dec. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for backstabbers
traitors
Noun
-
The president has spent a decade calling his rivals communists and traitors, among other hyperbolic insults.—
Jonathan Chait,
The Atlantic,
28 Apr. 2026
-
Military culture is fiercely self-protective, and soldiers who criticize it are usually treated as traitors.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
28 Apr. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Backstabbers.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/backstabbers. Accessed 2 May. 2026.
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