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.
Last month, following a ham-handed government attempt to ban most social-media apps, thousands of young protesters took to the streets of Kathmandu, the capital.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2025
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
Obama, a Harvard alum, described the freeze as "unlawful and ham-handed".
From BBC ● Apr. 15, 2025
While the film’s execution seems expert on the surface, the internal narrative design is unfortunately ham-handed and woefully dull.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 11, 2025
I was getting ham-handed and mutton-fisted, flapping the old things every day; felt I wanted to stunt about a bit.
From Mr. Punch's History of the Great War by Graves, Charles L. (Charles Larcom)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
