How to use underhanded in a sentence
22 example sentences · adjective, adverb, noun
Underhanded means done by moving the hand (and arm) from below. Example: “His underhanded trick backfired and he was disqualified.”
Examples of underhanded by meaning
adjectiveDone by moving the hand (and arm) from below.
- Golf is an underhanded game, because we must swing the club in an underhanded motion in order to play the ball off the ground.2011, Edward A Tischler, The Way Of The Golfer: Searching For New Horizons, →ISBN, page 25
adjectiveSly, dishonest, corrupt, cheating.
- His underhanded trick backfired and he was disqualified.
- They were actually underhanded threats to call off the lawsuit and then all insurance agents in the hospital district would get a dividend for the premiums paid.2007, Dewey Anderson, When Satan Came to Moose Lake, →ISBN, page 118
- Was the federal government being underhanded and hypocritical in officially praising the merits of federalism, but in missing no opportunity to promote Canadian nationalism?2009, Alain-G. Gagnon, Contemporary Canadian Federalism, →ISBN
adjectiveInsincere; sarcastic.
- An underhanded compliment is actually criticism.
- Underhanded compliments are, for better or worse, nothing new or unusual.2012, Hanne Blank, The Unapologetic Fat Girl's Guide to Exercise and Other Incendiary Acts, →ISBN, page 56
- Poking underhanded fun at the contestants live on stage was absolutely inexcusable.2013, Charmaine Ross, Makeover Miracle, →ISBN
adjectiveSecret; surreptitious.
- And, although the mystery of an unsigned note rather thrilled her, it seemed underhanded.1903, Arthur Wellington Brayley, Arthur Wilson Tarbell, Joe Mitchell Chapple, National Magazine - Volume 19, page 493
- A general agreement should be made among the nations, that henceforth, all underhanded diplomatic agreements be abolished, and that complete publicity be observed in discussing and transacting international affairs.1918, Cambrian ... Published in the Interest of the Welsh People and Their Descendants in the United States Volume 38
- He moved in closer, covertly noticing Vienna's underhanded peek.2011, Celine Flux, Sit-Ups and Supersex, →ISBN, page 289
adjectiveUnderstaffed.
- Jude and me can make out to work the boat and get a livin', but we're too underhanded for a big job.2008, H. De Vere Stacpoole, Satan: a Story of the Sea King's Country, →ISBN, page 51
- Vincent were “underhanded” and the phenomenon of runaways, or marronage, only exacerbated the problem.2012, Christopher Taylor, The Black Carib Wars: Freedom, Survival, and the Making of the Garifuna, page 1617033111
adverbIn an underhanded manner.
- Bonino required each of us to shoot our free throws underhanded.2009, Patrick M. Sheridan, How Come Nothing Ever Kills Granddad?, →ISBN
- The 3fz one-hand-only shooting mechanism allows players to shoot the basketball up-handed by pronating palm (down) and uplifting the arm, as well as underhanded by supinating palm (up) and low-hand Unishots.2011, Xiaoxing Chen, Three-Finger Zen: A Basketball Revolution, →ISBN, page 54
nounDevious people, collectively.
- We have fallen to the underhanded and label it a greater means.2002, Anthony D. Darden, The Mind of Mafia Work, →ISBN, page 91
- The kind of kho'los that comes from unfair dealings, culturally unacceptable practices that bring rewards to the underhanded can, on Odysseus's (and Agamemnon's) terms, be set aside.2005, Thomas R. Walsh, Fighting Words and Feuding Words: Anger and the Homeric Poems, →ISBN
- But this is not what is decisive, as it also applies to the distrustful, the underhanded, and the “deranged."2010, Martin Heidegger, Being and Truth, →ISBN, page 87
More sentences with underhanded
- Also because Odinists are more prone to using underhanded tricks like this than, say, Thorsmen.2013, Wayland Skallagrimsson, Heathenry: A Study of Asatru in the Modern World, page 98. From the entry Thorsman
- Michael underhanded his half-dozen sticks into the audience as the stage lights went dark and house lights came up at the rear of the auditorium.2013, George R.R. Martin, Wild Cards: Inside Straight, →ISBN. From the entry underhand
- The plumbata was an ancient Roman version of the lawn dart—a weighted projectile with a sharp point that was lobbed underhanded toward its target.2013, John O'Bryan, A History of Weapons: Crossbows, Caltrops, Catapults & Lots of Other Things that Can Seriously Mess You Up, Chronicle…. From the entry plumbata
- As has been mentioned earlier, there are various ways to hold a bow, the most obvious difference being between the overhanded method and the underhanded method.1963, Gertrude Jean Shaw, The Violoncello Sonata Literature in France During the Eighteenth Century, page 19. From the entry overhanded
- Many have been underhanded by fate and occasionally made to ask, like I once did, if there is a God, and if there is, how could they experience His power.2010, Christiana I. Chineme, God Didn't Do It; He Only Signed Off On It, →ISBN, page 149. From the entry underhand
Meaning of underhanded
- adjective Done by moving the hand (and arm) from below.
- adjective Sly, dishonest, corrupt, cheating.
- adjective Insincere; sarcastic.
Questions about underhanded in a sentence
- How do you use underhanded in a sentence?
- Underhanded is used as an adjective, adverb and noun. For example: “His underhanded trick backfired and he was disqualified.”
- What is a short sentence with underhanded?
- “An underhanded compliment is actually criticism.”
- What does underhanded mean?
- Underhanded means done by moving the hand (and arm) from below.
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: underhanded (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Cite this page: “How to use underhanded in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/underhanded. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.