handed
Americanadjective
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having or involving a hand or hands (usually used in combination).
two-handed backhand; a four-handed piano work.
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using a particular hand (usually used in combination).
right-handed.
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having, requiring, or with the number of people, workers, or players indicated (usually used in combination).
a three-handed game of poker.
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manned; staffed (usually used in combination).
adjective
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having a hand or hands as specified
broad-handed
a four-handed game of cards
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made as specified for either left- or right-hand operation or positioning
Etymology
Origin of handed
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.
See Examples For:
Next week, host Susan Matthews joins Amicus co-hosts Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern to discuss the blockbuster decisions handed down in June—and Gorsuch’s role in them.
From Slate ● Aug. 22, 2026
After an emotional 11-week trial, judge Matthew Nicklin sided with the publisher in a ruling handed down on July 7, concluding the "claimants failed to prove their pleaded allegations".
From Barron's ● Aug. 21, 2026
She handed out copies of her longtime friend Madonna’s new album to the studio audience, told stories about ordinary life and looked completely at home.
From Salon ● Aug. 20, 2026
That came after staff from local fish and chip shop Penalunas, in Hirwaun, handed out free food to firefighters tackling the blaze until 03:00 BST on Saturday.
From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026
She got two books off a nearby cart and handed them to me, along with two more strips of craft paper, these hot pink.
From "Bye Forever, I Guess" by Jodi Meadows
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Like Hollman, he had won a reputation for open -handed charity, and was liked—and hated.
From The Call of the Cumberlands by Charles Neville Buck
It was the good fellows, easy and genial, daring, and, on occasion, mad, that I wanted to know—the fellows, generous-hearted and -handed, and not rabbit-hearted.
From John Barleycorn by Jack London
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.