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Synonyms

hands

1 British  
/ hændz /

plural noun

  1. power or keeping

    your welfare is in his hands

  2. Also called: handling.  soccer the infringement of touching the ball with any part of the hand or arm

  3. to pass from the possession of one person or group to another

  4. freedom from guilt

  5. without effort; easily

  6. do not touch or interfere

  7. raise the hands above the level of the shoulders, an order usually given by an armed robber to a victim, etc

    1. to be completely occupied

    2. to be beset with problems

  9. to be wholly unable to act

  10. in protective care

  11. See join

    1. to seize or get possession of

    2. to beat up; assault

    3. to find

      I just can't lay my hands on it anywhere

    4. Christianity to confirm or ordain by the imposition of hands

  13. for which one is no longer responsible

    1. for which one is responsible

      I've got too much on my hands to help

    2. to spare

      time on my hands

  15. no longer one's responsibility

  16. to give up in despair

  17. to have nothing more to do with

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Hands 2 British  
/ hænz /

noun

  1. Terence David, known as Terry. born 1941, British theatre director: chief executive and artistic director (1986–91) of the Royal Shakespeare Company

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

“Yeah,” he says, fanning his hands across the screen for emphasis.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 28, 2026

Benchmark two-year and 10-year Treasury note yields moved modestly higher in early Monday trading, and were changing hands at 3.788% and 4.314% respectively, heading into the start of an exceptionally active week on Wall Street.

From Barron's • Apr. 27, 2026

The tribunal heard that Donnelly released the patient, who got up and ran down the corridor waving her hands and screaming.

From BBC • Apr. 27, 2026

George Washington, for one, feared that the area west of the Appalachians might soon break away because it was so remote and it traded via the Mississippi River and New Orleans, then in Spanish hands.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 26, 2026

Hannah gives me prayer hands with a smile and watery eyes.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

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.