Word.ws English Dictionary

give someone a hand

give someone a hand verb: to help, aid, or assist.

Verb

give someone a hand (third-person singular simple present gives someone a hand, present participle giving someone a hand, simple past gave someone a hand, past participle given someone a hand)

  1. (idiomatic) To help, aid, or assist.
    • Could you please give me a hand carrying this mattress?
  2. (idiomatic) To applaud or clap (also to give (someone) a big hand).
    • Please give all our dedicated volunteers a hand for their hard work.

Forms of give someone a hand

third-person singular presentgives someone a hand
present participlegiving someone a hand
pastgave someone a hand
past participlegiven someone a hand
alternative formlend someone a hand

Questions about give someone a hand

What does give someone a hand mean?
Give someone a hand means to help, aid, or assist.
What part of speech is give someone a hand?
Give someone a hand is a verb.
What is the past tense of give someone a hand?
The past tense of give someone a hand is gave someone a hand.

Words near give someone a hand in the dictionary

  1. give some skin
  2. give someone a bell
  3. give someone a bloody nose
  4. give someone a break
  5. give someone a buzz
  6. give someone a hand
  7. give someone a hard time
  8. give someone a jingle
  9. give someone a lift
  10. give someone a piece of one's mind
  11. give someone a ring

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: give someone a 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.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-give someone a hand.ogg.

Cite this entry: “give someone a hand.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/give_someone_a_hand. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.