behind someone's back

English

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

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Prepositional phrase

behind someone's back

1. (idiomatic) Without somebody's knowledge; secretly.

   The employees talked about their boss behind his back.

   You will lose good karma if you say bad things behind people's backs.

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter II, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC, page 25:

     I had never defrauded a man of a farthing, nor called him knave behind his back. But now the last rag that covered my nakedness had been torn from me. I was branded a blackleg, card-sharper, and murderer.

   • 1974, Tunji Oyelana (lyrics and music), “Which Way Africa”:

     Giant machines, precision tools, monster missiles, and all such [they] did lack.
     Indeed, the last industrial revolution happened behind their back.

   • 1998, Violent Femmes (lyrics and music), “Kiss Off”, in Violent Femmes:

     You can all just kiss off into the air / Behind my back I can see them stare / They'll hurt me bad, but I won't mind / They'll hurt me bad, they do it all the time

Translations

secretly

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 在某人背後／在某人背后 (zài mǒurén bèihòu)

• Finnish: selän takana
• French: dans le dos de (fr), à l’insu de (fr)
• German: hinter jemandes Rücken; (adverbially also) hinterrücks (de)
• Hungarian: a háta mögött
• Indonesian: di belakang
• Italian: alle spalle
• Portuguese: pelas costas (pt)
• Russian: за глаза́ (ru) (za glazá)
• Spanish: a espaldas de alguien, por la puerta de atrás
• Swedish: bakom någons rygg (sv), bakom ryggen på någon (sv)