Sentence:  He sometimes paid Descartes the <WSD>backhanded</WSD> compliment—<WSD>backhanded</WSD> because it detracted from the Frenchman's much-vaunted originality— of suggesting that his major achievement was to restore the study of Plato. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Insincere, sarcastic, ironic, or self-contradictory.