Jump To:

• hands-down
  hands-down

  adjective

  easy.
• hands down
  hands down

  Also, in a breeze ; in a walk . Easily, without effort, as in She won the election hands down , or They won in a breeze, 10–0 , or The top players get through the first rounds of the tournament in a walk . All of these expressions originated in sports. Hands down , dating from the mid-1800s, comes from horse racing, where jockeys drop their hands downward and relax their hold when they are sure to win. In a breeze , first recorded in a baseball magazine in 1910, alludes to the rapid and easy passage of moving air; in a walk , also from baseball, alludes to taking a base on balls, that is, reaching first base without having hit a pitched ball because of the pitcher's mistakes.

hands-down

American  

[handz-doun] / ˈhændzˈdaʊn /

adjective

1. easy.

   a hands-down victory.

2. certain.

   a book destined to be a hands-down bestseller.

---

hands down Idioms  

1. Also, in a breeze ; in a walk . Easily, without effort, as in She won the election hands down , or They won in a breeze, 10–0 , or The top players get through the first rounds of the tournament in a walk . All of these expressions originated in sports. Hands down , dating from the mid-1800s, comes from horse racing, where jockeys drop their hands downward and relax their hold when they are sure to win. In a breeze , first recorded in a baseball magazine in 1910, alludes to the rapid and easy passage of moving air; in a walk , also from baseball, alludes to taking a base on balls, that is, reaching first base without having hit a pitched ball because of the pitcher's mistakes.

2. Unquestionably, without a doubt, as in Hands down, it was the best thing I've ever done .

---

Usage

What does hands-down mean? Hands-down describes something that is easy, as in Our team had a hands-down win, not even breaking a sweat. Hands-down also describes something that is guaranteed, as in Hands-down, that was the hardest test so far this year! Example: Our home team would win against yours hands-down.

Etymology

Origin of hands-down

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hands-down hands down

Makers of the high-bandwidth memory needed for AI data centers have beaten Nvidia hands-down this year, with Micron Technology tripling as, again, chip prices rocketed.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 31, 2026

Performing longer stints in one city also makes it "hands-down" easier for artists to secure good support acts, says Reilly.

From BBC ● Jan. 30, 2026

Buchholz confirmed that indeed was the case: “I can tell you absolutely that it was the bold choices and big swings that made Jessica absolutely the hands-down choice of our search committee.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2025

The belated follow-up to 1988's “Beetlejuice” owes much of its charm to its supporting cast, which is hands-down one of the most strikingly entertaining ensembles of the past decade.

From Salon ● Sep. 9, 2024

Christian Brothers, hands-down, by the biggest margin of all.

From "Blink" by Malcolm Gladwell

But the widespread assumption this weekend in the party is that Burnham would beat him hands down, another government source said: "It's nuts" to imagine the PM could come out on top.

From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026

The play, which received the Pulitzer Prize this year, was hands down the best work I read or saw since last year’s Pulitzer and Tony winner, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’ “Purpose.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 8, 2026

“These are patients that hands down progressed on anti-PD-1.”

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 21, 2026

Chanos won that argument hands down, closing his long bitcoin/short Strategy trade for a sizeable gain.

From MarketWatch ● Apr. 16, 2026

It’s gotta be the greatest club, hands down, for Mateo.

From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera