hands-on

American  

[handz-on, -awn] / ˈhændzˈɒn, -ˈɔn /

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.

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hands-on British  

adjective

1. involving practical experience of equipment, etc

   hands-on training in the use of computers

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Etymology

Origin of hands-on

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

Explanation

Something that's hands-on requires direct interaction or participation. If you have hands-on coffee shop experience, it means you've actually made lattes and served scones with your own two hands. When you take a hands-on sewing class, you'll actually cut and pin and sew fabric, and if a high school principal has a hands-on role, she might teach a class each semester. If it's a hands-on chemistry class, students will have the opportunity to mix chemicals and do experiments. Hands-on is a relatively new adjective, coined around 1969.

Example Sentences

Consequently, if I, I the wretched prisoner, will still turn the victory into my father's hands--on what does it depend? on death?

From The Dramatic Works of G. E. Lessing Miss Sara Sampson, Philotas, Emilia Galotti, Nathan the Wise by Lessing, Gotthold Ephraim

Related Words

• firsthand