subtweet
n. An insulting or suggestive Twitter post that indirectly mentions another Twitter user, thus reducing the chance that the other person will see the message.
Also Seen As
Other Forms
Examples
2014
Much ink and many, many snide subtweets have been spilled over the question of whether Obamacare’s expansion of health insurance will actually generate health gains.
—Olga Khazan, “One Simple Trick to Live Longer,” The Atlantic, May 06, 2014
2014
The four ex-chiefs of staff—Nick Kouvalis, Amir Remtulla, Earl Provost, and Mark Towhey—were all key architects of Ford’s early success as mayor. All of them now have other jobs, and Towhey spends his days mocking his former boss with witty subtweets.
—Steve Kupferman, “Will Doug Ford actually run for MPP? And what happens if he does?,” Toronto Life, January 27, 2014
2009 (earliest)
When you retweet (RT) something but alter it in a subversive way it needs to be called a subtweet (ST).
—Iain Tait, “When you retweet…,” Twitter, April 30, 2009
Notes
On Twitter, if you include another user's account name, preceded by @, that person automatically sees your message (this is called a mention). A subtweet leaves out the "@" (or uses the person's real name, if it's different from their account name), so the other user doesn't automatically see the message.