handwritten
Britishadjective
Explanation
Something that's handwritten is written with a pen or a pencil — not typed or printed. A handwritten thank-you letter is a pleasant surprise these days. Formal documents are almost always typed or sent electronically, and not handwritten. It's increasingly common for letters, invitations, and birthday greetings to be sent this way as well — which makes handwritten notes and greetings all the more intimate and meaningful. If you send handwritten invitations to a party, you write each one out by hand.
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.
Her anguish is shared outside morgues as well as in hospitals, where photos of missing persons are plastered on walls and utility poles, written on handwritten pieces of paper.
From Barron's • Jun. 30, 2026
In a handwritten statement to FHSAA, the player recalled, “I was told they could give me a ride to school and lunch everyday.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 28, 2026
The back rooms of the La Brea Tar Pits are, at the moment, a maze of packing crates tagged with handwritten sticky notes that say things like “bison skulls” or “camel hip.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2026
The capsule, which included four old coins and a handwritten note, was discovered underneath a statue during renovation work in Crystal Palace Park.
From BBC • Jun. 6, 2026
She ran her thumb over her grandmother’s handwritten words.
From "The Parker Inheritance" by Varian Johnson
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.
