hands-on

[handz-on, -awn]

adjective

1. characterized by or involved in active personal participation in an activity; individual and direct.

   a workshop to give children hands-on experience with computers.

2. requiring manual operation, control, adjustment, or the like; not automatic or computerized.

   the old hands-on telephone switchboards.

hands-on

adjective

1. involving practical experience of equipment, etc

   hands-on training in the use of computers

Word History and Origins

Origin of hands-on¹

First recorded in 1905–10; by analogy with hands-off

Related Words

• firsthand