handwringing
handwringing is the alternative form of hand wringing.
Meaning of hand wringing
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
Forms of handwringing
| plural | handwringings |
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Words formed from handwringing
Questions about handwringing
- What is handwringing the alternative form of?
- Handwringing is the alternative form of hand wringing.
Words near handwringing in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: handwringing (page history and authors); 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.
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