What does "handwaver" mean?

Someone who engages in handwaving.; One who speaks or writes sweepingly, glossing over details, often including important details.

Handwaver

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Noun

1
Someone who engages in handwaving.; One who speaks or writes sweepingly, glossing over details, often including important details. uncommon
"Take his predictions about our technological and business-development timelines with a grain of salt, because he's an inveterate handwaver."
2
Someone who engages in handwaving.; One who raises their hand a lot. uncommon
"A gifted pupil might sometimes need to be coached privately about avoiding presenting themself as a handwaver."

"Take his predictions about our technological and business-development timelines with a grain of salt, because he's an inveterate handwaver."

By surface analysis, handwave + -er, or, by surface analysis, hand + waver.

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