handheld

Or hand-held

[hand-held]

adjective

1. held in the hand or hands.

   a handheld torch.

2. small enough to be used or operated while being held in the hand or hands.

   a handheld hair drier.

noun

1. something small enough to be used or operated while held in the hand or hands.

   She traded in her bulky old movie camera for a handheld.

Word History and Origins

Origin of handheld¹

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Shot on a handheld digital camera, the film applies an anarchic home-movie aesthetic to a superbly performed, discomfitingly comic drama of darkness within a family.

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It also has a camera that flies—literally, in some instances, when the handheld camera is transferred to a drone and the perspective goes airborne.

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Many operators hire contractors to walk across accessible portions of the landfill with a handheld leak-monitoring device, an approach that some environmental advocates say is unreliable.

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Differing from “Wicked,” Brooks chose a handheld camera for more scenes in “For Good,” which has fewer big dance numbers and more intimate moments.

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Spatial teleportation requires access to an STM and possession of a handheld homing device known as the EGG.

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