loose-handed
loose-handed adjective: with open hand (as opposed to a fist).
Adjective
loose-handed (comparative more loose-handed, superlative most loose-handed)
- With open hand (as opposed to a fist).
- His punches alternated between uppercuts and loose-handed swipes.2011, Penelope Fletcher, Demon Day
- He was holding back, a little. The blows were loose-handed.2010, James Lovegrove, The Age of Odin, →ISBN
- Characterized by broad sweeping movements.
- "When you are here," Martin cups the air vaguely in loose-handed gesture, "do you feel the freedom around you? Can you feel it?"1999, Irene Guilford, The Embrace: A Novel, →ISBN, page 129
- Varney made an impatient, down-sweeping, loose-handed gesture. "Quit it, Cole!" he said angrily.1991, Luke Short, First Campaign, →ISBN, page 16
- Casual; undisciplined or haphazard.
- It was a state of being cumulatively nurtured by a flawless execution of the protocol rehearsed the evening prior (save for her own out-of-order seating), the forgiving tailoring of the bride's gown that gave away no secrets, the fact Mrs. June Helen Grinbar had seen fit to address her mess of a...2010, Robert Hastings, Back When Mary Alice Was Still a Blonde, →ISBN, pages 203–204
- The rather loose-handed ways in which Wilson presented his history and the generalizations he dared to make are also visible in later years.2002, Administration & society - Volume 34, page 588
- Synonyms:
- chaotic, unruly, out of control, anarchic, anarchical, bratty, difficult, dionysiac, dionysian, disciplineless
- Lenient, permissive.
- First, it was traditionally subject to loose-handed regulation, which opened the possibility of returns above the cost of capital to offset.2012, A. Lawrence Kolbe, William B. Tye, Stewart C. Myers, Regulatory Risk: Economic Principles and Applications to Natural Gas Pipelines and Other Industries, →ISBN, page 275
- Why should Life be a cruel taskmaster, gaunt and grim, priggish and precise, and not the jolly, generous, loose-handed friend who winks at faults, overlooks lapses, and lets things run free in a happy-go-lucky kind of way, the margin not counting?1890, William Chambers, Robert Chambers, Chambers's Journal - Volume 67, Issue 1, page 161
- Synonyms:
- easygoing, lax, soft-handed, clement, forbearing, indulgent, lenient, permissible, permissive, relaxed
- Spendthrift, profligate.
- I was so eager to make their bedclothes agreeable and nice, I am afraid I was a bit loose-handed with the starch bottle.2010, Sebastian Barry, Annie Dunne, →ISBN
- From their hair styles to their clothing, from their ability to be patient (Cappy can, Leo can't), and from their banking practices (Cappy's a bit tightfisted, Leo a little loose-handed) to their speech (Cappy's is somewhat shy and gentle, Leo's is eloquent and dramatic), and from their method of...1992, Linda Goodman, Linda Goodman's Love Signs: A New Approach to the Human Heart, →ISBN, page 539
- Synonyms:
- improvident, squandering, wasteful, extravagant, imprudent, lavish, prodigal, profligate, reckless, spendthrift
- Aimless
- I'm a model convalescent if I'm waited on by anonymous people whose job it is, but very bad at sitting loose-handed about our own small rooms.2011, Sylvia Plath, Letters Home, →ISBN
- Harmen Gerritszoon himself was not a moldered corpse nor an old man remembering, wordless and loose-handed, in the sun;1961, Gladys Schmitt, Rembrandt: a novel, page 347
- Synonyms:
- directionless, feckless, purposeless
- Wild or uncontrolled.
- In San Diego, at the zoo, this cousin's four-year-old son, left loose-handed by a gossipy mother, had been drawn between the bars and trampled on by a suddenly rogue elephant.1983, Hortense Calisher, Mysteries of motion, page 167
- We had to hold our teams about half an hour until the immense herd passed. Men that were loose-handed fired many shots among them, and three bucks were killed.1912, Young Ladies' Mutual Improvement Associations, The Young Woman's Journal - Volume 23, page 245
- Synonyms:
- loose, on the loose, out of control, out of hand, ungoverned
- Involving wrist action.
- In which method of receiving the puck—with a fixed stick or a loose-handed stick—do you apply a bigger force to the puck?2013, Robert Gardner, The Physics of Sports Science Projects, →ISBN, page 90
- Then some sand wedges—loose-handed flop shots, cut shots, back in stance, forward in stance, different kinds of lies in the sand bunker.2004, Jerry Travis, Match Play, →ISBN, page 75
- Sketchy and flowing rather than geometric and precise.
- In a search for the complex shifts of form in the foot's shaping, the drawings present a loose-handed version of planar slices.2013, Sue Ferguson Gussow, Architects Draw: Freehand Fundamentals, →ISBN, page 83
- On the wall to his right, loose-handed paintings in dark, pungent red boasted familiar shapes; varied angles of human faces, mouths stretched open, lips curled back, eyes bulging, teeth clenched and grinding.2004, Andre Duza, Dead Bitch Army, →ISBN, page 118
Adverb
loose-handed (comparative more loose-handed, superlative most loose-handed)
- With a poor grip.
- If Daklan had drawn the sword from his flesh then there would be more blood than he could have stanched, but Daklan was now stumbling away, loose-handed, then falling.2009, Adrian Tchaikovsky, Dragonfly Falling: Shadows of the Apt 2, →ISBN
- Exiting in the order of their deaths: Senhora Teixeira, holding her unlit torch loose-handed, helping Maria Elena up the stair.1997, Patricia Anthony, God's Fires, page 344
Examples of loose-handed in a sentence
- A diamond ring flashes as he gestures, not with the thrust of a clenched fist but with loose-handed waves.1933, Albert Shaw, Review of Reviews and World's Work - Volume 88, page 21:
- The chain has a whipping action-like many of the loose-handed whipping motions of the Northern bare-handed styles.1973 October, “Double Hook Axe — Teaching Distance and Variety”, in Black Belt, volume 11, number 10, page 16:
- Garland's loose-handed administration of her medicines.2010, Robert Hastings, Back When Mary Alice Was Still a Blonde, →ISBN, pages 203–204:
- Miss Fidger was the most delightfully loose-handed housekeeper that ever muddled up baker's, butcher's, and washerwomen's bills in one indiscriminate mass.1875, Eliza Stephenson, Eglantine, page 36:
Synonyms of loose-handed
- chaotic
- unruly
- out of control
- anarchic
- anarchical
- bratty
- difficult
- dionysiac
- dionysian
- disciplineless
30 more synonymsFewer synonyms
- fractious
- gung ho
- indisciplined
- irrepressible
- lawless
- rampant
- reinless
- stanchless
- unbridled
- unchecked
- uncontrolled
- uncontrollable
- undisciplined
- ungovernable
- ungoverned
- uninhibited
- unreined
- unrestrained
- untoward
- unvanquished
- out of joint
- wanton
- wild
- easygoing
- lax
- soft-handed
- clement
- forbearing
- indulgent
- lenient
Forms of loose-handed
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more loose-handed |
| superlative | most loose-handed |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | more loose-handed |
| superlative | most loose-handed |
Origin of loose-handed
From loose + handed.
Words formed from loose-handed
Questions about loose-handed
- What does loose-handed mean?
- Loose-handed means with open hand (as opposed to a fist).
- How do you use loose-handed in a sentence?
- A diamond ring flashes as he gestures, not with the thrust of a clenched fist but with loose-handed waves.
- What part of speech is loose-handed?
- Loose-handed can be an adjective or an adverb.
Words near loose-handed in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: loose-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.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “loose-handed.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/loose-handed. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.