handless
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands: Describes a person who is clumsy, awkward, or unskillful in performing manual tasks.
- Without a hand or hands: Describes a person or object that is missing one or both hands.
Usage Examples
- Adjective (Clumsy):
- He was so handless that he kept dropping the tools.
- Her handless attempts at sewing resulted in a tangled mess of thread.
- Adjective (Without hands):
- The ancient statue was discovered handless.
- He adapted brilliantly to life as a handless veteran.
Advanced Usage
- "to be handless at something": to be particularly unskilled at a specific manual task.
- I'm completely handless at tying intricate knots.
Variants and Related Words
- Handlessness (n): The state or quality of being handless, either in terms of clumsiness or the physical absence of hands.
- Ham-handed (adj): A synonym emphasizing heavy-handed clumsiness. (Note: This is a related compound term, not a variant of 'handless' itself).
Synonyms
- Clumsy: Lacking grace or skill in movement.
- Awkward: Not smooth or graceful.
- Maladroit: Inefficient or unskillful.
- Amputee: A person who has had a limb amputated. (Specific to the "without hands" meaning).
Antonyms
- Dexterous: Demonstrating neat skill, especially with the hands.
- Adroit: Clever or skillful in using the hands or mind.
- Handy: Skillful with the hands.
Related Phrases
- All thumbs: An idiom meaning very clumsy with one's hands.
- When it comes to fixing things, I'm all thumbs.
Adjective
- lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands
- a bumbling mechanic
- a bungling performance
- ham-handed governmental interference
- could scarcely empty a scuttle of ashes, so handless was the poor creature- Mary H. Vorse
- without a hand or hands
- a handless war veteran