underhanded
Americanadjective
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not open and aboveboard; secret and crafty or dishonorable.
The firm's underhanded tactics and misrepresentation of data has created uncertainty and confusion.
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The pitcher made an underhanded throw to first base.
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By the time of the Navy game, Army usually finds itself underhanded.
adjective
Other Word Forms
- underhandedly adverb
- underhandedness noun
Etymology
Origin of underhanded
Explanation
Use the adjective underhanded to describe someone who plays dirty tricks, like a cheating poker player or a manipulative classmate. It would be underhanded to spread gossip about your opponent during a student council election, just as it's underhanded for a business owner to pay herself more while laying off workers. If it's unfair and sneaky, it's underhanded — unless you're pitching a softball, in which case you're simply throwing it from below your shoulder instead of above.
Vocabulary lists containing underhanded
Divergent
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Stamped
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Novel Study: Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Chapters 1–6
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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.
“It was an underhanded thing to do,” Roach said, “and they knew that it would be controversial.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 18, 2026
He’s dealing with the laws of the state, and by employing the kind of underhanded tactics that might have worked in a familial context, he has opened himself to legal consequences.
From MarketWatch • Nov. 11, 2025
We’re here to do some blatantly underhanded business deals and take an outdated gas-guzzling 747 off your hands.
From Salon • Jun. 1, 2025
Shaquille O'Neal, when advised by Barry to "granny throw" in response to his poor 52% record, summed up the problem: "I'd shoot 0% before I'd shoot underhanded."
From BBC • Apr. 14, 2025
They wouldn’t side with the Erudite—they would never do something that underhanded.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
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.
