English Words: B

31,241 words · Page 2 of 625

backadj

At or near the rear.

backachenoun

Any pain or ache in the back.

backbeatnoun

The sharp accent on the second and fourth beats of rock music in 4/4 time.

backbenchadj

relating to the back benches in parliament

backbenchernoun

A Member of Parliament who does not have cabinet rank, and who therefore sits on one of the backbenches or in one of the back rows of the legislature.

backbitingnoun

The action of slandering a person without that person's knowledge.

backboardnoun

The flat vertical surface to which the basket is attached.

backbonenoun

The series of vertebrae, separated by disks, that encloses and protects the spinal cord, and runs down the middle of the back in vertebrate animals.

backbreakingadj

Of work, very physically tiring.

backburnernoun

Alternative form of back burner.

backcountrynoun

A remote region; countryside that is relatively inaccessible.

backcourtnoun

A courtyard behind a housing block or tenement building.

backdatedverb

simple past and past participle of backdate

backdoornoun

Alternative form of back door.

backdropnoun

A decorated cloth hung at the back of a stage.

backedverb

simple past and past participle of back

backendnoun

Alternative form of back end.

backernoun

One who, or that which, backs; especially one who backs an entrant in a contest, or who supports an enterprise by funding it.

backfieldnoun

The rear part of the field of play, particularly

backfillverb

To refill a hole with the material dug out of it.

backfirenoun

A premature explosion in the cylinder of a gas or oil engine during the exhaust or the compression stroke, tending to drive the piston in the wrong direction.

backfiringnoun

The occurrence of a backfire.

backflipnoun

An act of rotating one's body 360 degrees in the backward direction.

backflownoun

The flow of a fluid (through a pipe etc.) in a direction opposite to that which is normal or intended.

backgammonnoun

A board game for two players in which each has 15 stones which move between 24 triangular points according to the roll of a pair of dice; the object is to move all of one's pieces around, and bear them off the board.

backgroundadj

Less important or less noticeable in a scene or system.

backhandnoun

A stroke made across the chest from the off-hand side to the racquet hand side; a stroke during which the back of the hand faces the shot.

backhandedadj

With the back of the hand.

backhaulverb

To transmit (data or footage) from a remote site to a central site from where it is re-transmitted.

backhoenoun

A piece of excavating equipment, either an integral subassembly or an attachment, consisting of a digging bucket or scoop on the end of an articulated arm, drawn backwards to move earth; used in excavator/digger and backhoe tractors.

backhousenoun

An outbuilding behind the main building, or an annex attached to the rear of it; especially, a scullery or washhouse.

backingnoun

Support, especially financial.

backlashnoun

A suddenly reversed or backward motion, such as of a rope or elastic band when it snaps under tension.

backlessadj

Having no back, especially where one would be expected, as with a chair or a dress.

backlightnoun

Light shining from a source behind the object of interest or attention.

backlinenoun

Alternative form of back line.

backlinknoun

A hyperlink to a webpage from an external website.

backlitverb

simple past and past participle of backlight

backlognoun

A large log to burn at the back of a fire.

Backlundname

A surname from Swedish.

backmannoun

A defender in Australian rules football.

backpacknoun

A knapsack, sometimes mounted on a light frame, but always supported by straps, worn on a person’s back for the purpose of carrying things, especially when hiking, or on a student's back when carrying books.

backpackernoun

A traveler whose luggage consists of a backpack; especially, such a traveler who uses hostels, public transport, and other inexpensive services.

backpackersnoun

A hostel catering to backpackers.

backpackingverb

present participle and gerund of backpack

backplanenoun

A circuit board that connects several connectors in parallel to each other, so that each pin of each connector is linked to the same relative pin of all the other connectors, forming a computer bus.

backplatenoun

A plate protecting a fighting person's back.

backroomnoun

A room near the rear of a premises.

backsnoun

plural of back

backscatternoun

The deflection of particles or radiation through angles greater than 90 degrees to the original direction of travel.

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

The English alphabetical index for the letter B contains 31,241 headwords drawn from our Wiktionary-derived dictionary table. At 50 entries per page the browse splits into 625 pages, and you are currently viewing page 2. Every row above is a dictionary-backed entry with a canonical slug, and each links through to a full definition page with pronunciation, senses, etymology, and related-word data where available.

On this page 50 of 50 entries carry a part-of-speech tag and 50 carry at least one stored definition. Coverage varies across letters because Wiktionary volunteers build entries at different speeds for different parts of the alphabet, letters with common starting sounds (S, C, T, P) usually have the densest coverage, while less frequent starters (X, Q, Z) tend to have shorter but more specialised lists. PlainSpell surfaces whatever data is present and links back to the source when a definition is not yet recorded.

For readers using this index as a spelling reference, the guarantee is that every form you see on the list is a documented English headword, not a guess, not a derived inflection lacking a lemma row. If a word you expected to find is absent from the "B" list, it usually means the form exists only as an inflection of another lemma (e.g. a past participle stored under the infinitive) or the entry has not yet been imported from Wiktionary. Use the search bar or the misspelling lookup to resolve these cases.