hands-off

[handz-awf, -of]

adjective

1. characterized by nonintervention or noninterference.

   the new hands-off foreign policy.

2. remote or unfriendly; estranging.

   a truculent, hands-off manner toward strangers.

hands-off

adjective

1. (of a machine, device, etc) without need of manual operation

2. denoting a policy, etc, of deliberate noninvolvement

   a hands-off strategy towards industry

Word History and Origins

Origin of hands-off¹

First recorded in 1860–65

Idioms and Phrases

An order to stop touching or interfering with something, as in Hands off the cake, children! This idiom is also put as keep one's hands off, as in She knew she had to keep her hands off so he could learn to tie his shoes by himself. [Mid-1500s]

Example Sentences

It makes the most perfect, hands-off oats: soft, fragrant, and ready before you’ve had your first sip of coffee.

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Cooper had kept a hands-off posture, leaving the Mexican side of operations to Odood.

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And this time it is not just that Biya is seven years older and even more hands-off than before.

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OpenAI recently said it would begin allowing adults to have erotic conversations with ChatGPT, and has urged for a hands-off approach to AI regulation.

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The Center for Biological Diversity and others advocate for a “hands-off” approach to California’s forests and urge management of the wildfire crisis through home hardening and evacuation planning alone.

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