hands-on
Americanadjective
-
characterized by or involved in active personal participation in an activity; individual and direct.
a workshop to give children hands-on experience with computers.
-
requiring manual operation, control, adjustment, or the like; not automatic or computerized.
the old hands-on telephone switchboards.
adjective
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
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
"Showering, sleeping, eating, tying his shoes - Michael can't tie his shoes - I mean, there's so much hands-on involvement, and Jean did all of that," she says.
From BBC ● Sep. 6, 2026
“The fastest-growing work is hands-on and beyond AI’s reach,” Indeed said in its quarterly labor-market survey.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 29, 2026
A former hedge-fund manager, Bessent has taken a hands-on approach in an effort to wrangle bond yields lower.
From Slate ● Aug. 20, 2026
“Needless to say, he has his day job right now,” Deering said, “but he is very hands-on from an advisor perspective.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026
“He just wants to give us some hands-on experience,” said Hermione, immobilizing two pixies at once with a clever Freezing Charm and stuffing them back into their cage.
From "Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets" by J. K. Rowling
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.
