Word.ws English Dictionary

handed

Syllables: hand·edUK/ˈhændɪd//ˈhændəd/

handed adjective: having a certain kind or number of hands. Also the simple past and past participle of hand.

Adjective

handed (not comparable)

  1. (in-compounds) Having a certain kind or number of hands.
  2. (informal) Synonym of chiral.
    Synonyms:
    chiral
  3. (in-compounds) Having a peculiar or characteristic hand or way of treating others.
    • As poisonous tongued as handed1611 April (first recorded performance), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Cymbeline”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard...
  4. (obsolete) With hands joined; hand in hand.
    • yet now, if any two be but once handed in the Church, and have tasted in any sort the nuptiall bed, let them finde themselves never so mistak’n in their dispositions through any error, concealment, or misadventure, that through their different tempers, thoughts, and constitutions, they can neither...1643, John Milton, Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce
    • Into their inmost bower, / Handed they went.1667, John Milton, “Book IV”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...

Also used as

handed is also the simple past and past participle of hand.

Examples of handed in a sentence

  • I left my camera on the train, but luckily enough someone handed it in to lost property.
  • She poured him into a taxi and handed the driver the fare.
  • Although we may disagree with it, we must nevertheless approve the sentence handed down by the court-martial.

All 40 example sentences with handed

Synonyms of handed

Origin of handed

From hand + -ed.

Words formed from handed

Phrases with handed

21 more phrasesFewer phrases

Words that rhyme with handed

Questions about handed

What does handed mean?
Handed means having a certain kind or number of hands.
What part of speech is handed?
Handed is an adjective.
How do you pronounce handed?
Handed is pronounced /ˈhændɪd/ (UK).

Words near handed in the dictionary

  1. handcycles
  2. handcycling
  3. handcyclist
  4. handcyclists
  5. hande
  6. handed
  7. handed around
  8. handed away
  9. handed back
  10. handed down
  11. handed in

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: handed (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-us-handed.ogg.

Cite this entry: “handed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/handed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.