steady-handed

steady-handed adjective: capable of smooth, sure movements.

Adjective

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

Capable of smooth, sure movements.
- Yet despite its good intentions, the IRL has attracted more untried, fuzz-faced young gunslingers-in-waiting than tight-jawed, steady-handed shootists, pulling in only two drivers who still fit the mold.2000 May, Jerry Miller, “Where Have All the Cowboys Gone?”, in Indianapolis Monthly, volume 23, number 10, page 65
- Uncle Tommy, the once steady-handed Gene Krupa of the Vernon Troubadours and the Palmer Orchestra, whose sticks never missed a snare or a cymbal, missed the bowl of meatballs on the table.2009, Barbara-Jo Lucchine Kruczek, Play Me a Song, →ISBN, page 159
Executed with smooth, sure movements.
- Theories about how a skill evolves from the awkward and deliberate performance associated with the cognitive stage to the smooth and steady-handed performance of the automatic response stage have one thing in common: progress appears to depend on repeated practice.2010, FAA, Aviation Instructor's Handbook, page 2-21
- It's hard if you work at it easy, and it's easy if you work hard at setting your sight on a specific marker at the end of the field and on steady-handed steering toward the marker.2011, Mel Harmon, A Trout In The Milk: Profiles In Prosecution, →ISBN, page 34
Consistent and reliable.
- The final phase of Mexican League history was launched only after the sudden death of Jorge Pasquel in 1955; it consisted of steady-handed rebuilding of league fortunes under the capable direction of a new league management.2005, Peter C. Bjarkman, Diamonds Around the Globe, →ISBN, page 270
- Foreign policy has to be dealt in a steady-handed and consistent manner.2012, Hossam Nasser, From Richard Kimble to Barack Obama: America as Viewed by an Egyptian-American who Loves Her, →ISBN

Adverb

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

In a steady-handed manner.
- Yet he faced his foemen with dauntless courage, dashing in, springing back, sure-footed, steady-handed, with a point which seemed to menace three at once.1891, Arthur Conan Doyle, The White Company
- The boy caught it steady-handed and grinned wide. “Oh good hands, lad!2004, Nate Cleveland, Bare Hands, Numb Skulls, →ISBN, page 61

Examples of steady-handed in a sentence

The barber laughs so hard at the simple answer to the riddle that Logan fears for his chances of a steady-handed shave.2012, Ross Bentley-Davies, Walkers Creek: A Western, →ISBN, page 17:
The Conservative Party under Thatcher was famously steady-handed in targeting certain elements of the then-existing British labor market structure and complementing social programs.2014, Carsten Jensen, The Right and the Welfare State, →ISBN, page 89:
I moved beside her and was shocked, not by method, not by truth, for it was true, but by her ability to paint clear-eyed, steady-handed, and show this thing.2005, Maurice Gee, Scornful Moon, →ISBN:

Forms of steady-handed

Adjective
comparative	more steady-handed
superlative	most steady-handed
alternative form	steadyhanded
Adverb
comparative	more steady-handed
superlative	most steady-handed

Origin of steady-handed

From steady + handed.

Words formed from steady-handed

steady-handedness

Questions about steady-handed

What does steady-handed mean?: Steady-handed means capable of smooth, sure movements.
How do you use steady-handed in a sentence?: The barber laughs so hard at the simple answer to the riddle that Logan fears for his chances of a steady-handed shave.
What part of speech is steady-handed?: Steady-handed can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near steady-handed in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: steady-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: 2026-09-02

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