behindhand
adjective · adverb
Simple meaning
Behind in paying a debt.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
bihhyndhandSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
bɪˈhaɪndhænd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
archaic
Behind in paying a debt; in arrears.
archaicof a person
Late, tardy, overdue, behind (in accomplishing a task, etc.).
archaicof a task or the object of a task
Not at the expected point of completion.
archaic
Behind (someone or something moving, a trend, etc.), lagging behind, not keeping up.
dated
Inferior, less advanced (compared with someone in something).
archaic
Not having enough of, lacking (in something).
adverb
archaic
In debt, or in arrears.
archaic
Belatedly, tardily.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Typical Use
- Rare
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Behind in paying a debt; in arrears.
Used this way, behindhand is an old word kept alive mainly in historical writing that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It turns up most in historical writing and literature or storytelling contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Archaic
- Connotation
- Old-fashioned
- Usage feel
- Dated in modern speech
Where it naturally appears
- Historical writing
- Literature/storytelling
Usage note
This meaning belongs to older English, so readers meet it in historical or literary texts rather than in current speech.
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.