Word.ws English Dictionary

light-handed

Syllables: light·hand·ed

light-handed adjective: gentle; benign and with minimal intervention.

Adjective

light-handed (comparative lighter-handed or more light-handed, superlative lightest-handed or most light-handed)

  1. Gentle; benign and with minimal intervention.
    • Does it reflect your position toward the other agencies that, in the words of your Deputy, this program should be as lighthanded as possible?1979, United States Congress House Committee on Government Operations. Environment, Energy, and Natural Resources Subcommittee, Energy Conservation Within the Federal Government: The Department of...
    • On the other hand, lighthanded methods are believed to have more subtle effects on behaviors, often through influencing attitudes, creating knowledge, or manipulating the environment to accomplish desirable ends.1997, U.S. National Conference on State Parks, Trends, page 33
  2. Sparing; applying only slight pressure or minimal amounts.
    • The shadow was now also applied to the lower lash line, but still very light-handed.2010, Riku Campo, Best in Beauty, →ISBN, page 257
    • Kate's light-handed copyedit is shown in figure 1, along with a medium and heavy copyediting of the same passage.2000, Amy Einsohn, The Copyeditor's Handbook, →ISBN, page 27
  3. Delicate and skilled; nimble and dextrous
    • Winterbourne constantly attended for news from the sick-room, which reached him, however, but with worrying indirectness, though he once had speech, for a moment, of the poor girl's physician and once saw Mrs Miller, who, sharply alarmed, struck him as thereby more happily inspired than he could...1877, Henry James, Four Meetings
    • The early works of this painter are a complete study for lighthanded and beautiful execution; they look imitatively perfect, yet many instances are known of his extreme rapidity of execution.1893, Richard Redgrave, A Catalogue of the National Gallery of British Art at South Kensington, page 19
  4. Light-hearted; fun and witty or easygoing.
    • We make several light-handed or joking references to my change.1981-1982, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
    • Both were extensively-travelled cosmopolitans, popular and at home in salons across the world; good talkers (Yazid often to excess) with perfect command of English, a light-handed sense of humour and easy-going manners.1996, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, →ISBN, page ccxxiv
  5. Flippant; lacking seriousness.
    • Philip Penna, of Indiana, a veteran of many labor controversies, roundly scored the United Mine Workers for their light-handed treatment of their contracts.1921, Coal Age - Volume 20, page 669
  6. Not having a full complement of workers.
    • “We will hold on to the last, while he must begin to take in soon, or the squall will come upon him too fast for a light-handed vessel.”1836, James Fenimore Cooper, The Water Witch
    • If light-handed, or the wind fresh, let go the bowline and ease off the tack, (being careful to let the bowline go before the tack,) and haul up the weather clew.1841, Richard Henry Dana, The Seaman's Friend, page 57
  7. Thieving, larcenous.
    • Thae Hielandmen are o' the westland clans, and just as light-handed as their neighbours, an a' tales be true1817, Sir Walter Scott, Rob Roy
    • Indeed, she knew how to make young Deelbelicket, old Dougald Baresword, the Laird of Bandybrawl, and others, pay for the hospitality which she did not think proper to deny them, by rendering them useful in her negociations with the light-handed lads beyond the Cairn, who, finding their late object...1822, [Walter Scott], chapter IV, in The Pirate. […], volume I, Edinburgh: […] [James Ballantyne and Co.] for Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co., →OCLC, page 68
  8. Fresh and light-tasting, not rich, heavy, or highly seasoned.
    • Lively, fresh-tasting, and light-handed in style, it pairs well with any food that likes a dry white with a bit of fruit to it, from chips 'n' dips, shrimp cocktail, and pates to entree salads and poultry.2005, Fred DuBose, Evan Spingarn, Nancy Maniscalco, The Ultimate Wine Lover's Guide 2006, →ISBN, page 141
    • It's a sweet little bistro, a local favorite, turning out bright, lovely French/Mediterranean-influenced dishes like sautéed escargot in a Roquefort gratiné, and light-handed scallops with pea shoots and bowfin caviar.2011, Diana K. Schwam, Frommer's New Orleans, →ISBN
  9. (obsolete) Having or requiring little strength.
    • December. Month for sheep-shearing. Rather light-handed for this work.1845, Charles Rowcroft, Tales of the Colonies; Or, The Adventures of an Emigrant, page 93
    • ...are such as the cotton, woolen, and shoe factories, wherein the use of machinery has made mere human tenders of the operatives employed; or in such industries as the making of garments, wherein light-handed and comparatively unskilled labor, such as that of women and children, embodies the very...1885, Michigan Dept. of Labor, Report, volume 2, page 268

Adverb

light-handed (comparative more light-handed, superlative most light-handed)

  1. Carrying very little.
    • 'Are ye come light-handed, ye son of a toom whistle?' said Sir Robert. 'Zounds! if you are'1824, Sir Walter Scott, Redgauntlet
    • The true state of the case is, that manufactures, as a general thing, in view of the depressed condition of the trade, have been making calculations to do a light business, and got out their logs sooner than they expected, and will on the whole do rather more than they had anticipated, having gone...1860, William Peter Strickland, Old Mackinaw, or, The fortress of the Lakes and its surroundings, page 351
  2. In a light-handed manner.
    • At first merely fidgety, and managed with the greatest delicacy by the English postilion, then ill-tempered and capricious, swerving from side to side, necessitating in self-defence the use of the whip—“ But only gently and light-handed, ..."1876, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, a Popular Journal of General Literature, Volume 17
    • See; not a hair is, not an eyelash, not the least lash lost; every hair
      Is, hair of the head, numbered.
      Nay, what we had lighthanded left in surly the mere mould
      Will have waked and have waxed and have walked in the wind what while we slept, […]1882, Gerard Manley Hopkins, “The Golden Echo”, in Robert Bridges, editor, Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins: Now First Published […], London: Humphrey Milford, published 1918, →OCLC, page 57

Examples of light-handed in a sentence

  • They are aware that the more light-handed their power, the more effective it is.2002, Irini Rockwell, The Five Wisdom Energies: A Buddhist Way of Understanding Personalities, Emotions, and Relationships, →ISBN:
  • At the other extreme, the view has been that light-handed 'regulation' is a euphemism for 'handsoff'.2013, Brian Easton, The Whimpering of the State: Policy After MMP, →ISBN:
  • By maintaining a light-handed approach, regulations could be kept to a minimum, with additional measures introduced to overcome any weaknesses in the regulartory framework that arose over time.2013, Pauline Fatien Diochon, Albert J. Mills, Emmanuel Raufflet, The Dark Side 2: Critical Cases on the Downside of Business, →ISBN:
  • honey tends to soak into the cake, so be light-handed with it2014, Agatha Kulaga, Erin Patinkin, Ovenly: Sweet & Salty Recipes from New York's Most Creative Bakery, →ISBN, page 43:

Forms of light-handed

Adjective
comparativelighter-handed
comparativemore light-handed
superlativelightest-handed
superlativemost light-handed
alternative formlighthanded
Adverb
comparativemore light-handed
superlativemost light-handed

Origin of light-handed

From Middle English lyghte handyd, from light (adjective) + honded, participle of honden (“to seize, take charge of”), from the noun hond (“hand”). See more at hand.

Words formed from light-handed

Questions about light-handed

What does light-handed mean?
Light-handed means gentle; benign and with minimal intervention.
How do you use light-handed in a sentence?
They are aware that the more light-handed their power, the more effective it is.
What part of speech is light-handed?
Light-handed can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near light-handed in the dictionary

  1. light-foot
  2. light-footed
  3. light-footedly
  4. light-footedness
  5. light-gathering power
  6. light-handed
  7. light-handedly
  8. light-handedness
  9. light-headed
  10. light-headedly
  11. light-headedness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: light-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.

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