hand wringing
hand wringing noun: the repeated clasping or squeezing of the hands as a symptom of distress.
Noun
hand wringing (countable and uncountable, plural hand wringings)
- The repeated clasping or squeezing of the hands as a symptom of distress.
- Whisperings filled the corridors with unearthly sounds — the hand-wringing and breast-beating of the elder sisters — the sighs and sobs of the younger.1862, Anna Maria Hall, chapter XIII, in Can Wrong Be Right?
- A feigned exhibition of distress, usually with implied inaction or vacillating in the face of a dilemma or crisis.
- On the one hand, there is the danger of ineffectual and often counterproductive conservative handwringing over the crisis.2001, Thomas W. Smith, Revaluing Ethics: Aristotle's Dialectical Pedagogy, page 1
- As noted, the confusion and hand wringing about who should do what mostly flows from a failure to clearly think through what an epidemic is and what will be demanded in response.2003, Daniel K. Akaka, Fema's Role in Managing Bioterrorist Attacks and The Impact of Public Health Concerns on Bioterrorism Preparedness, page 69
Forms of hand wringing
| plural | hand wringings |
|---|---|
| alternative form | handwringing |
| alternative form | hand-wringing |
Questions about hand wringing
- What does hand wringing mean?
- Hand wringing means the repeated clasping or squeezing of the hands as a symptom of distress.
- What part of speech is hand wringing?
- Hand wringing is a noun.
- What is the plural of hand wringing?
- The plural of hand wringing is hand wringings.
Words near hand wringing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: hand wringing (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:
Cite this entry: “hand wringing.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/hand_wringing. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.