Emptyhandedness
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The state of having nothing in one's hands. uncountable
"Mr. Basehart offers it again, "Here, cousin," and dances away again, leaving Bolingbroke accused by his own emptyhandedness."
- 2 Poverty or lack of possessions and resources. uncountable
"Now on account of my emptyhandedness and want of means, I am unable to provide for the law charges and remuneration of attorneys and counsel and such matters and without appointing a protector over me, it is impossible to meet the costs and charges of the suits, and of the attorneys and counsel an my personal expense, and rent of the house which I now occupy, and the wages of servants &c."
- 3 Lack of anything to offer uncountable
"Oh, the beauty and heavenliness of a home where the empty-handed guest is not the less but the more welcome for his emptyhandedness!"
- 4 The lack of something one sought to acquire. uncountable
"Talk with those here who vainly seek work, who suffer daily the humiliation of emptyhandedness."
- 5 Failure to accomplish a task or mission. uncountable
"And the clanging call of the general alarm rasped you to battle stations, night and day, from sleep and from meals, always with the same emptyhandedness of failure in the end."
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- 6 Lack of a weapon; the state of being unarmed. uncountable
"...Mills had first spoken his gibberish of good intention, always careful, though they did not travel in armor, to lean down from their mounts to shake hands in the trendy new symbol of emptyhandedness and unarmedness that they'd picked up on their travels."
Example
More examples"Mr. Basehart offers it again, "Here, cousin," and dances away again, leaving Bolingbroke accused by his own emptyhandedness."
Etymology
From emptyhanded + -ness.
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.