out of hand
Idioms-
See out of control .
-
At once, immediately, as in The second surgeon rejected the doctor's treatment plan out of hand . [1300s]
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.
But each is pushing for leverage, raising fear of an escalatory spiral that gets out of hand, said Saeid Golkar, an expert on Iran’s security services who teaches at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
On Monday High Court Judge Michael Keehan said that Judge Tolson had been wrong to dismiss "out of hand so serious an allegation that it was being investigated by the police".
From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026
This correlation has long been the subject of urban myths on Wall Street, and many have dismissed it out of hand.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 6, 2026
Berries, peaches, cherries, plums — anything that can be washed at home and eaten out of hand.
From Salon ● Jun. 18, 2026
“Yep. Sort out this whole mess before it gets out of hand in the rays of the sun.”
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
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.
