Crossword Dictionary
BACKLASH
backlash - n
an adverse reaction to some political or social occurrence; "there was a backlash of intolerance"
Synonyms
kickback, answer, reaction, reply, take, counteraction, counterreaction, counterresponse, rebound, recoil, reflex, revulsion, rise
Examples
There was an inevitable backlash of incredulity.
The backlash against the show was enormous.
Figures released later are expected to spark a furious backlash against the system.
Etymology
1815, of machinery, "reaction of wheels on each other produced by an inconstant load," from back (adj.) + lash (n.) "a blow, stroke." In metaphoric sense, it is attested from 1929.
back (adj.)
"being behind, away from the front, in a backward direction," Middle English, from back (n.) and back (adv.); often difficult to distinguish from these when the word is used in combinations. Formerly with comparative backer (c. 1400), also backermore. To be on the back burner in the figurative sense is from 1960, from the image of a cook keeping a pot there to simmer while at work on another concoction at the front of the stove.
lash (n.)
c. 1300, las "a blow, a stroke," later "flexible part of a whip" (late 14c.), possibly imitative; compare lash (v.1), which might be the immediate source of this. Century Dictionary says Irish lasg "a lash, whip, whipping" is of English origin. The lash "punishment by flogging" is from 1690s.