evenhanded
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of evenhanded
Explanation
Evenhanded means fair to all sides. If your essay is evenhanded, it should look at both sides of an argument, without showing preference for one side or the other. When you talk about two opposing ideas, you often invoke the idea of hands. “On the one hand,” you begin, discussing the first idea, and then move on to discuss its opposite, starting in with, “On the other hand.” Evenhanded means treating both “hands” evenly. Of course, you're not really talking about hands — you're talking about sides of an arguments, or siblings splitting a cookie.
Vocabulary lists containing evenhanded
Nothing But the Truth
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Vocabulary Video Contest (2013) - List 1
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2014 Vocabulary Video Contest (A-L)
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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.
Mr. Stannard set to work and produced “Muriel Spark: The Biography,” a large, meticulously researched and evenhanded book.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The paradox is that Lee’s movie is itself that conversation, its characters engaging in a series of arguments, evenhanded and empathetic, about how race affects the lives we lead in America.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
He has, in his first year at HHS, “significantly thinned out the sprawling $1.7 trillion department,” as an evenhanded report from the Associated Press put it.
From Slate ● Jan. 20, 2026
He brought with him a news sensibility honed at the BBC, where he had worked in the interim, and became a key figure in shaping U.S. public television’s in-depth and evenhanded approach to news coverage.
From New York Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
The Thin One settled all night disputes in the most evenhanded way.
From The Dew of Their Youth by S. R. (Samuel Rutherford) Crockett
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.
