fistful

American  

[fist-fool] / ˈfɪst fʊl /

noun

• fistfuls
  plural

1. a handful.

   a fistful of pennies.

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Spelling

See -ful.

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• fistfuls
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of fistful

First recorded in 1605–15; fist ¹ + -ful

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fistful fistfuls

One climbed a ladder with a fistful of nails.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 29, 2026

Banks, investment funds, governments, and insurance companies bought them by the fistful.

From Barron's ● Feb. 24, 2026

Or a Mediterranean-ish sheet pan of squash, eggplant, and onions, finished with thin-sliced cucumbers and a fistful of herbs.

From Salon ● Feb. 18, 2026

Out of Africa won a fistful of awards, but Havana was badly received and lost money at the box office.

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2025

But, like a fistful of smoke, he is gone.

From "Beast Rider" by Tony Johnston & María Elena Fontanot de Rhoads

Unfazed by the crashing waves, 72-year-old Wu Feng-chiao yanks fistfuls of brownish-purple seaweed she will process into jelly, one of the last women in Taiwan keeping the marine harvest tradition alive.

From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026

From the 17th to 19th centuries, spaghetti was a popular street food in Naples, typically enjoyed with one’s bare hands in large fistfuls.

From Salon ● Feb. 14, 2026

When the fistfuls of hair persisted, I tore through Los Angeles for someone, anyone, who could tell me why this was happening and how to make it stop.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025

I see Corey and Hailey and Colton and Hannah…all staring dead-eyed into their laptops, clutching fistfuls of hair.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 4, 2025

At my feet are mounds of burned-out candle wax, fistfuls of dying flowers blown by the wind and roughed by the ravages of the street.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

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