whole-handedly

whole-handedly adverb: with one's whole hand or hands; (figuratively) comprehensively.

Adverb

whole-handedly

(uncommon) With one's whole hand or hands; (figuratively) comprehensively.
- I always knew that a cactus was dangerous, so I said to myself, “'Tis these great spikes one must avoid," and threw myself whole-heartedly and whole-handedly into stroking the beautiful green spaces between.1913, The Smith College Monthly
- It must, however, be remembered that Dekker and Day had “collaborated: on more than one occasion, and it is open to a generous critic to assume that one of the two writers put his work whole-handedly at the disposal of the other.1924, Arthur Henry Bullen, Elizabethans

[…] and when touched are grabbed whole-handedly.1950, Crichton Porteous, Derbyshire:
Indeed, the record convinces the court that the government whole-handedly controls and blatantly influences EMMES' action with respect to disclosure of the documents.1999, Access Reports/freedom of Information:
Naïve, with the grace of a virgin playing at stirring up the flowers of an almond tree, she raised, whole-handedly, the scented froth of her intimate apparel.2004, Edward Bruce Ford, Jean Giono's Hidden Reality, Edwin Mellen Press, →ISBN:

alternative form	wholehandedly

What does whole-handedly mean?: Whole-handedly means with one's whole hand or hands; (figuratively) comprehensively.
How do you use whole-handedly in a sentence?: […] and when touched are grabbed whole-handedly.
What part of speech is whole-handedly?: Whole-handedly is an adverb.

Adapted from Wiktionary: whole-handedly (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: “whole-handedly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/whole-handedly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.