Word.ws English Dictionary

lighthanded

lighthanded adjective: benign and with minimal intervention.

Adjective

lighthanded (comparative more lighthanded, superlative most lighthanded)

  1. benign and with minimal intervention.
    • FERC then drew on a potentially significant dictum from Farmers Union II: "Moving from heavy to lighthanded regulation within the boundaries of an unchanged statute can ... be justified by a showing that under current circumstances the goal and purposes of the statute will be accomplished through...2012, Michael A. Crew, Competition and the Regulation of Utilities, →ISBN, page 81
    • 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.
    • When sewing strip sets, use a lighthanded approach feeding the strips under the presser foot so the crosswise grain isn't stretched.2014, Donna Lynn Thomas, Quiltmaking Essentials I: Cutting and Piecing Skills, →ISBN
    • When it came to food, Melissa preferred subtle nuance and lighthanded seasoning.2014, Marc Twine, Intermission: Volume 1
  3. nimble and dextrous;
    • From all evidence he manages the subtle responsibilities of the tdvana role with a delicate and lighthanded virtuosity.1975, Robert I. Levy, Tahitians: Mind and Experience in the Society Islands, →ISBN, page 44
    • 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.
    • In recovering the pointedly Spinozist impulse, the deeper critical motivation behind Heine's seemingly lighthanded poetic playfulness comes to the fore.2004, Willi Goetschel, Spinoza's Modernity: Mendelssohn, Lessing, and Heine, →ISBN, page 268
    • Gaiety and an overflowing, outpouring love, warmth and clarity, a lighthanded ease, replaced the tormented tension of the will which had marked the outgrown stage.2003, Ida Friederike Görres, The Hidden Face: A Study of St. Thérèse of Lisieux, →ISBN, page 112
  5. flippant.
  6. Not having a full complement of workers.
    • Being so lighthanded the vessel could not be properly managed and could carry but little sail, consequently her progress was but slow.1887, The Contributor: Representing the Young Men's and Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations of the Latter-day Saints, Volume 8, page 168
    • “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
  7. Thieving.
    • Captive rowlocks keep the oars in the boat while you 're rowing and discourage lighthanded hardware seekers when you go ashore.1997 January, Time Carr, “Choosing A Dinghy -- The Hard Way”, in Cruising World
    • You understand what darkies are—as curious as magpies and quite as lighthanded. If one of them had chanced to see Effingham hiding something behind the clock, he would be sure to investigate for himself at the first convenient opportunity.1922, Van Tassel Sutphen, In Jeopardy, →ISBN

Adverb

lighthanded (comparative more lighthanded, superlative most lighthanded)

  1. Carrying very little.
    • Though he prayed for a moose, just one moose,all game seemed to have deserted the land, and nightfall found the exhausted man crawling into camp, lighthanded, heavyhearted.2013, Jack London, The Son of the Wolf, →ISBN
    • The trip was to be a short one this time, and he was going lighthanded, leaving behind him the necessities of life as represented by American articles of diet.1909, Annie Laurie Adams Baird, Daybreak in Korea: A Tale of Transformation in the Far East, page 113
  2. In a light-handed manner.
    • 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
    • He must go lighthanded to whatever it was that impended.1919, The Saturday Evening Post - Volume 191, Issues 49-52, page 124

Forms of lighthanded

Adjective
comparativemore lighthanded
superlativemost lighthanded
Adverb
comparativemore lighthanded
superlativemost lighthanded

Questions about lighthanded

What does lighthanded mean?
Lighthanded means benign and with minimal intervention.
What part of speech is lighthanded?
Lighthanded can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near lighthanded in the dictionary

  1. lightfulness
  2. lightguide
  3. lightguides
  4. lightgun
  5. lightguns
  6. lighthanded
  7. lighthandedly
  8. lighthandedness
  9. lighthead
  10. lightheaded
  11. lightheadedly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: lighthanded (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:

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