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behindhand

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behindhand

Where it comes from

From behind + hand.

adjective more behindhand · most behindhand · behind-hand

  1. archaic, of a person Late, tardy, overdue, behind (in accomplishing a task, etc.). These days before the examinations began were very difficult for everybody, and Perrin began that hideous “getting behind-hand” that made things accumulate so that there seemed no chance of ever catching up.
  2. archaic, of a task or the object of a task Not at the expected point of completion. It was now the season for planting and sowing; many gardens and allotments of the villagers had already received their spring tillage; but the garden and the allotment of the Durbeyfields were behindhand.
  3. archaic Behind (someone or something moving, a trend, etc.), lagging behind, not keeping up. I have constantly observed, that the generality of people are fifty years, at least, behind-hand in their politicks.
  4. archaic Behind in paying a debt; in arrears. Leo. ... theſe thy offices (So rarely kind) are as Interpreters Of my behind-hand ſlackneſſe.
  5. archaic Not having enough of, lacking (in something). 1777, Samuel Johnson, Letter to James Boswell dated 25 November, 1777, cited in James Boswell, The Life of Samuel Johnson, London: Charles Dilly, 1791, Volume 2, p. 178, […] I have had for some time a very difficult and laborious respiration, but I am better by purges, abstinence, and other methods.
  6. dated Inferior, less advanced (compared with someone in something). […] I’ll shew you I scorn to be behind-hand in Civility with you; and as you are not angry for what I have said, so I am not angry for what you have said.

adverb more behindhand · most behindhand · behind-hand

  1. archaic Belatedly, tardily.

    Similar: late

  2. archaic In debt, or in arrears.

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MLA

"behindhand." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/behindhand. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

behindhand. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/behindhand

Chicago

"behindhand." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/behindhand.

BibTeX
@misc{behindhand_2026,
  title = {behindhand},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/behindhand},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}