Word.ws English Dictionary

invisible hands

invisible hands is the plural of invisible hand.

Meaning of invisible hand

Noun

invisible hand (plural invisible hands)

  1. A metaphor for the principle that in a free market, an individual pursuing his own self-interest also tends to promote the good of his community as a whole.
    • By preferring the ſupport of domeſtick to that of foreign induſtry he intends only his own ſecurity; and by directing that induſtry in ſuch a manner as its produce may be of the greateſt value, he intends only his own gain, and he is in this, as in many other caſes, led by an inviſible hand to...1776 March 9, Adam Smith, “Of Restraints upon the Importation of Such Goods from Foreign Countries as can be Produced at Home”, in An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. […]...

Questions about invisible hands

What is invisible hands the plural of?
Invisible hands is the plural of invisible hand.

Words near invisible hands in the dictionary

  1. invisible exports
  2. invisible government
  3. invisible governments
  4. invisible green
  5. invisible hand
  6. invisible hands
  7. invisible import
  8. invisible imports
  9. invisible ink
  10. invisible inks
  11. invisible kitchen

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: invisible hands (page history and authors); invisible 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.

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