Handless

//ˈhændləs// adj

adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Without any hands.

    "Together with his mangled Myrmidons, That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come to him"

  2. 2
    Without a handle. not-comparable

    "She gave him a few coppers from the handless jug."

  3. 3
    Not handy; awkward. obsolete

    "We’ll take a dram for luck, and as soon as this handless man of mine has the collops ready, we’ll dine and take a hand at the cartes as gentlemen should."

Adjective
  1. 1
    lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands wordnet
  2. 2
    without a hand or hands wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bumblingbunglingbutterfingeredbutterfingeredham-fistedham-handed

Antonyms

All antonyms
handed

Example

More examples

"Together with his mangled Myrmidons, That noseless, handless, hack'd and chipp'd, come to him"

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English handles, from Old English *handlēas, from Proto-Germanic *handulausaz (“handless”), equivalent to hand + -less. Cognate with West Frisian hânleas (“handless”), German handlos (“handless”), Icelandic handlauss (“handless”).

Etymology 2

From handleless, by haplology, under the influence of etymology 1 above.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.