manhandle
Americanverb (used with object)
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manhandles,
present (3rd person singular)
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manhandled,
past participle, past
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manhandling
present participle
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to handle roughly.
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to move by human strength, without the use of mechanical appliances.
verb
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to handle or push (someone) about roughly
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to move or do by manpower rather than by machinery
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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manhandlesimple
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manhandlessimple
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have manhandledperfect
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has manhandledperfect
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am manhandlingprogressive
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are manhandlingprogressive
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is manhandlingprogressive
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have been manhandlingperfect progressive
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has been manhandlingperfect progressive
Past
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manhandledsimple
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had manhandledperfect
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was manhandlingprogressive
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were manhandlingprogressive
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had been manhandlingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of manhandle
Explanation
When you manhandle something, you pick it up, push it, or pull it roughly. You might gasp watching movers manhandle your fragile furniture as they load it into a moving van. You can manhandle things, and you can also manhandle people, shoving or grabbing them. If security workers at the airport manhandle a little old lady, nearby passengers will probably speak up in her defense. This current meaning arose in the late nineteenth century — earlier, manhandle meant "attack an enemy," and before that, "wield a tool."
Vocabulary lists containing manhandle
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.
See Examples For:
A flower seller, asked about the tourist trade, irritably mimed how some outsiders would manhandle his delicate blooms — brilliant purple irises and Van Gogh-worthy sunflowers — and then walk away without buying anything.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 11, 2024
As long as he's not too tight at the weight then I think he can bully and manhandle Smith, being the naturally bigger guy.
From BBC ● Jan. 18, 2023
“You’re not going to get a long ways trying to manhandle the bike or pedal forcefully,” Acheson said.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 9, 2022
One effect of Title IX as it approaches its 50th anniversary is this: It created not just stronger women but ones who know a muscle-bound court ruling that might manhandle them when they see it.
From Washington Post ● May 13, 2022
He sits up and reads from his phone, ‘“Vancouver, Washington, police manhandle black teen at house party.’”
From "Piecing Me Together" by Renée Watson
At 6 feet 9 and 330 pounds, he manhandles players from other schools.
From Washington Post ● May 10, 2016
Eifman manhandles Gershwin’s “Concerto in F” and “I Got Rhythm.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 6, 2015
Toibin never manhandles life and would in fact prefer not to leave any fingerprints on its lapels.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2014
In its turn, Oxford manhandles him considerably, de-bagging* him, staging mock parades in his honor to the tune of Ovah Theah.
From Time Magazine Archive
On Friday, Syed Wajid Ali Shah Gillani, president of the Islamabad High Court Bar Association, alleged in a video statement that police manhandled the couple before arresting them.
From Barron's ● Jan. 24, 2026
The defensive interior was manhandled for most of the season, and in each of their three regular-season losses, the Trojans were trampled on the ground.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 1, 2026
They found themselves in the rare position of meeting a genuine chess celebrity, while also being manhandled by him on the board.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2025
It became a protest story when federal immigration officers took the mayor of New Jersey's largest city into custody and manhandled three members of Congress in the process.
From Salon ● May 13, 2025
When I touched it, it stuck to me; when I manhandled it, it turned leathery.
From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly
“We’ll be here till tomorrow dealing with this blaze,” said Major Issa Hamdoun, a civil defense commander, as he watched his men manhandling the fire hose into the wreckage of the building.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 24, 2026
"I just saw something that sickened my stomach," Schumer said, "the manhandling of a United States Senator."
From Salon ● Jun. 12, 2025
Arizona avoided a letdown to close out its nonconference schedule, manhandling the Bears to put Lloyd in the record books.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 22, 2022
“For as long as I could remember, I’d been manhandling jealous little boys.”
From Washington Post ● May 22, 2022
He held the furious boy away, but he was frightened of what the consequences might be of defying a direct order from the son of a senator, let alone manhandling him.
From "Tiger, Tiger" by Lynne Reid Banks
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.
