Word.ws English Dictionary

handwriting on the wall

handwriting on the wall is the alternative form of writing on the wall.

Meaning of writing on the wall

Noun

writing on the wall (countable and uncountable, plural writings on the wall or writings on walls)

  1. (idiomatic) An ominous warning; a prediction of bad luck.
    • He could see the writing on the wall months before the business failed.

Questions about handwriting on the wall

What is handwriting on the wall the alternative form of?
Handwriting on the wall is the alternative form of writing on the wall.

Words near handwriting on the wall in the dictionary

  1. handwringings
  2. handwrit
  3. handwrite
  4. handwrites
  5. handwriting
  6. handwriting on the wall
  7. handwritings
  8. handwrits
  9. handwritten
  10. handwrote
  11. handwrought

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: handwriting on the wall (page history and authors); writing on the wall (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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-au-handwriting on the wall.ogg.

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