Word.ws English Dictionary

forcing someone's hand

forcing someone's hand is the present participle and gerund of force someone's hand.

Meaning of force someone's hand

Verb

force someone's hand (third-person singular simple present forces someone's hand, present participle forcing someone's hand, simple past and past participle forced someone's hand)

  1. (idiomatic) Bring about a situation which necessitates an agent to act, often causing a plan to be executed prematurely.

Questions about forcing someone's hand

What is forcing someone's hand the present participle and gerund of?
Forcing someone's hand is the present participle and gerund of force someone's hand.

Words near forcing someone's hand in the dictionary

  1. forcing functions
  2. forcing house
  3. forcing houses
  4. forcing one's way
  5. forcing out
  6. forcing someone's hand
  7. forcing something down someone's throat
  8. forcing the pace
  9. forcing the voucher
  10. forcingly
  11. forcings

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: forcing someone's hand (page history and authors); force someone's 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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