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• hands-off
  hands-off

  adjective

  characterized by nonintervention or noninterference.
• hands off
  hands off

  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]

hands-off

American  

[handz-awf, -of] / ˈhændzˈɔf, -ˈɒf /

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.

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hands-off British  

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

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hands off Idioms  

1. 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]

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Etymology

Origin of hands-off

First recorded in 1860–65

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

hands-off hands off

They have not been treated respectfully; hence the refusal to issue a hands-off order on Kyiv’s airport while the two were in town.

From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026

The EA and Natural Resource Wales grant abstraction licences to farms, but when water levels drop they can impose what is called a "hands-off flow restriction".

From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026

The release of powerful new AI models has since prompted the administration to shift from a hands-off approach to increased oversight.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 26, 2026

For Norcliffe, the ultimate goal is to build deep, hands-off trust.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

The Thunderhead’s hands-off policy when it came to scythes meant that scythe’s images were not tagged in any way.

From "Scythe" by Neal Shusterman

Meanwhile, Mr. Bessent’s intervention supposedly is a repudiation of Mr. Warsh’s determination to keep government hands off the bond market.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 20, 2026

Amziah hands off the honey plant to Kateri as McConaughey, the Oscar-winning movie star, hands off the film to newcomer LookingGlass in her very first movie role.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 14, 2026

Landis also hands off what she calls “repetitive play,” reading the same book five times or watching her toddler open and close a door for 45 minutes.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026

Markets reopened as usual on Friday, but traders seemed content to keep their hands off the terminals and enjoy the postholiday haze.

From Barron's ● Dec. 27, 2025

He not only talked, he sang, and if he felt like hitching up his trousers, he just took his hands off the wheel and hitched.

From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz