handling
Americannoun
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a touching, grasping, or using with the hands.
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the manner of treating or dealing with something; management; treatment.
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the manual or mechanical method or process by which something is moved, carried, transported, etc.
adjective
noun
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the act or an instance of picking up, turning over, or touching something
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treatment, as of a theme in literature
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the process by which a commodity is packaged, transported, etc
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( as modifier )
handling charges
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law the act of receiving property that one knows or believes to be stolen
Etymology
Origin of handling
First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English handlung (noun); equivalent to handle + -ing 1
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.
For example, Robinson has publicly thanked Musk for handling some of his legal bills.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026
Col Samantha Shepherd has been on trial at Military Court Centre at Catterick Garrison in North Yorkshire, in connection with the handling of concerns raised by Gunner Jaysley Beck, from Cumbria.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
Hook and Shepherd were charged by the Service Prosecution Authority over their handling of the case earlier this year.
From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026
William Hensley, a former Postal Service official familiar with election mail, said he was concerned about rushing out significant extra duties for postal workers handling business mail.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 13, 2026
The mathematicians began to handle evidence in the way that lawyers and theologians had been handling it for many centuries.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
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.
