handmade
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of handmade
Explanation
Something that's handmade wasn't made by a machine, but formed, built, or constructed by an actual person. A handmade sweater from your grandma is one she knit herself. Handmade items can look awkward and inexpertly constructed, but just as often they're more beautiful and special than their machine-made counterparts. Handmade pottery is unique, each bowl or mug looking slightly different since they're made and glazed individually, by hand. A handmade birthday card from a young relative is charming in a way its Hallmark equivalent could never be. Handmade comes from the sense of "made by hand."
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 me, I’m heightening contradictions,” Riley says of his film’s handmade aesthetic.
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026
The crowd drowns in the second-long tension as they sit below teardrop-shaped papier-mâché stalactite hanging from handmade alien geodes on the ceiling.
From Los Angeles Times • May 18, 2026
Living in nomadic groups, the men use handmade bows and arrows to hunt Cape buffalo, baboons and the rodent-like hyrax.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 9, 2026
Anyway, before we could respond, he gestured at a TV mounted on the wall, level with the highest shelves groaning with organic kibble and handmade toys, and sang out, “Because there he is!”
From Salon • May 2, 2026
The city-made stuff was mostly shabby and worn, repaired again and again, but the handmade things fascinated Tally.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
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.
