Word.ws English Dictionary

at third hand

at third hand prepositional phrase: indirectly, through a series of two intermediaries.

Prepositional phrase

  1. Indirectly, through a series of two intermediaries.
    • 'I doubt if you will ever have met "Rainproof" Nogg,' wrote one about this time—a shrewd old lady whose Dutch-sounding name caused pushful young hostesses to prick up their ears even when it reached them at third hand.1927, Ernest Bramah [pseudonym; Ernest Brammah Smith], Max Carrados Mysteries

Questions about at third hand

What does at third hand mean?
At third hand means indirectly, through a series of two intermediaries.
What part of speech is at third hand?
At third hand is a prepositional phrase.

Words near at third hand in the dictionary

  1. at the very least
  2. at the very most
  3. at the wheel
  4. at the whim of
  5. at the worst
  6. at third hand
  7. at this juncture
  8. at this moment in time
  9. at this point
  10. at this point in time
  11. at this rate

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: at third hand (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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