One-handedness
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The quality of having a dominant hand; left-handedness or right-handedness. uncountable
"Again some persons are too right-handed (I question, indeed, whether one-handedness, whether right or left be chiefly employed, does not in all cases involve a loss of power)."
- 2 Chirality uncountable
"It must be noted that the stimulating hypotheses of Cairns-Smith (1982) emphasizing the role of clays in the origin of life do not account for the crucial one-handedness of biopolymers required to ensure the survival of self-replicating organic systems."
- 3 The possession of only one hand or the ability to use only one hand; the loss of the use of one hand. uncountable
"The young man had married a woman who had only one hand, and it was on the fact of her one-handedness that my thought was focused."
- 4 The state of choosing to use only one hand. uncountable
"A later generation of bebop pianists would often be accused of one-handedness; their right hands flew along with melodies and improvisations, while their "weak" left hands just plonked chords."
- 5 The quality of being designed for only one hand. uncountable
"As can be witnessed in a performance of that work by Fleisher, it is indeed a dazzling display piece in which, if it is only heard and not seen, its one-handedness might evade listeners' notice."
Show 2 more definitions
- 6 A state in which only one person is active uncountable
"Holding intercourse with Sir William at this date partook a good deal of the nature of a one-handed conversation, and the one-handedness seemed to increase when the only share of the host, in the post-prandial conviviality, consisted in passing the decanters, which Sir William was scrupulous to do."
- 7 Weakness, limitation figuratively, uncountable
"Mr. Herbert makes his moan over the awful one-handedness and one-leggedness of our rich classes, who are smitten with the universal incapacity to help theniselves."
Example
More examples"Again some persons are too right-handed (I question, indeed, whether one-handedness, whether right or left be chiefly employed, does not in all cases involve a loss of power)."
Etymology
From one-handed + -ness.
More for "one-handedness"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.