ham-handed

American

[ham-han-did] / ˈhæmˈhæn dɪd /

especially British, ham-fisted

adjective

clumsy, inept, or heavy-handed.

a ham-handed approach to dealing with people that hurts a lot of feelings.

Other Word Forms

hamhandedness noun

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

Obama, a Harvard alum, described the freeze as "unlawful and ham-handed".

From BBC • Apr. 15, 2025

There is evidence that the messaging, though ham-handed, has played well in many of the places Wagner operates.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 25, 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 Sterling, Bruce

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023