Word.ws English Dictionary

weak-handed

weak-handed adjective: having or involving hands that are weak or infirm.

Adjective

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

  1. Having or involving hands that are weak or infirm.
    • He also had a son named Dave who thought milking a pretty tough job, and who imagined he was getting weak-handed and on the way to milker's paralysis.1914, Hoard's Dairyman - Volume 46, page 744
    • It was no weapon for one at all weak-handed.2014, William Osborn Stoddard, With the Black Prince, →ISBN
  2. (broadly) Weak; lacking courage and strength.
    • It is true there is much to be done, and perhaps you are weak-handed; but stick to it steadily, and you will see great effects.1897, Hezekiah Butterworth, True to His Home: A Tale of the Boyhood of Franklin, →ISBN
    • We have been mealy-mouthed and weak-handed; we have trifled and temporised and the Food has grown and grown.2013, H.G. Wells, The H.G. Wells Anthology, →ISBN
    1. (broadly, slang) Selling his invested position(s) in reaction to ephemeral signs of a downturn.
  3. (obsolete) Understaffed
    • With this heroic resolution, he put himself into the hands of the Zamorin with a retinue of only twelve men, being unwilling to leave the ships weak-handed for the sake of an unavailing and empty parade of attendance.1812, David Macpherson, The history of the European commerce with India, page 15
    • We were now very weak-handed; three men, besides Mr. Bedwell who was still an invalid, being ill, considerably reduced our strength1827, Phillip Parker King, Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia, Performed Between the Years 1818 and 1822
  4. (obsolete) Poor; impoverished.
    • Should he be weak-handed (poor), he is compelled to be content with what is termed girdling, which consists in cutting the bark, thereby, of course, killing the trees, and he afterwards clears away the underwood, which is seldom considerable.1906, University of Cincinnati Studies - Volume 2, page 61

Adverb

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

  1. (shooting) With gun held in hands that are not braced to strengthen the grip.
    • Its cold hammer-forged barrel is beyond accurate, and the ergonomic grip is all it takes to stay steady in awkward shooting positions or when shooting weak-handed.2012, Jennifer Pearsall, Gun Digest Illustrated Guide to Modern Firearms, →ISBN, page 87
    • And if the targets require you to make really awkward leans from your freestyle position, don't ever rule out the possibility of engaging the targets strong-handed or even possibly weak-handed.2012, Brian Enos, Practical Shooting, Beyond Fundamentals, →ISBN
  2. In a weak-handed manner.
    • Beginning there weak-handed is not the thing to do.1838, Methodist Episcopal Church. Missionary Society, Annual Report, page 54

Examples of weak-handed in a sentence

  • Cold Feet was a futile, weak-handed little coward.2014, Max Brand, Three Who Paid, →ISBN:
  • This flushing out of weak-handed, short-term gold speculators will prove a valuable entry point for those who have felt they missed the gold rush over the last few years.2014, Wayne Root, The Murder of the Middle Class, →ISBN:
  • He felt himself so weak-handed with only Robinson, who might leave him, and a shepherd lad he had just hired.2014, Charles Reade, Delphi Complete Works of Charles Reade:

Forms of weak-handed

Adjective
comparativemore weak-handed
superlativemost weak-handed
alternative formweakhanded
Adverb
comparativemore weak-handed
superlativemost weak-handed

Origin of weak-handed

From weak + handed.

Words formed from weak-handed

Questions about weak-handed

What does weak-handed mean?
Weak-handed means having or involving hands that are weak or infirm.
How do you use weak-handed in a sentence?
Cold Feet was a futile, weak-handed little coward.
What part of speech is weak-handed?
Weak-handed can be an adjective or an adverb.

Words near weak-handed in the dictionary

  1. weak verbs
  2. weak vowel merger
  3. weak-bladdered
  4. weak-chinned
  5. weak-eyed
  6. weak-handed
  7. weak-handedness
  8. weak-headed
  9. weak-hearted
  10. weak-heartedly
  11. weak-heartedness

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: weak-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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