ham-handed
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ham-handed
First recorded in 1915–20
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Governments will be tempted by ham-handed policy responses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 31, 2026
That’s the bigger story that is being lost in the government’s egregious, ham-handed attempt to turn Ábrego García into an object lesson.
From Salon ● Jul. 17, 2025
A number of missteps and misstatements - including a ham-handed June 2021 interview with NBC News presenter Lester Holt – damaged her standing and opened her to conservative attacks.
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2024
Greece’s foreign ministry made a ham-handed bid to get rid of the hot potato by sneaking Ocalan out of the country and trying to hide him in the Greek Embassy in Kenya.
From Seattle Times ● May 31, 2023
As early as January 1990, sentiment on the Well had already begun to sour, and people had begun to grumble that "hackers" were getting a raw deal from the ham-handed powers-that-be.
From The Hacker Crackdown, law and disorder on the electronic frontier by Bruce Sterling
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
