stab in the back
Betray a friend
To stab someone in the back is to betray them, especially while pretending friendship or loyalty: He stabbed me in the back by going to the boss with my idea.
A stab in the back is such a betrayal.
The image is of attacking someone from behind while they trust you enough to turn away.
A backstabber makes a habit of it.
- throw under the busBetray for self-preservation
- throw to the wolvesAbandon to hostile forces
- double-crossTreacherous deception of partner
- twist the knifeIntensify someone's anguish deliberately
- perfidyDeliberate breach of trust
sell out · betrayal · treason · duplicity · turncoat · two-faced · snake in the grass · Faustian bargain · Judas · kiss of death · false friend · Ides of March · et tu Brute · Machiavellianism · Benedict Arnold · subversion · coward · scapegoating
- combat idiomsdodge a bullet, in the crosshairs, fire away, take a shot, under the gun
- betrayalbetray, betrayal, traitor, double-cross, disloyalty
- German HistoryNazi, Prussia, Saxony, Reichstag, Napoleonic Wars
- dirty tacticsdirty trick, dirty tricks, dirty pool, foul play, cheap shot
- revealreveal, disclose, expose, unmask, unveil
stab in the backloyalty
Faithful commitment to another
faithfulness · devotion · stand by · fidelity · steadfastness
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