Single-handedness
noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 The quality of having a dominant hand; left-handedness or right-handedness. uncountable
"Recent experiments and observations, however, prove that single-handedness is merely the result of faulty or restricted education. Careful observations have shown that out of every hundred persons born into this world eighty are congenitally ambidextrous — that is to say, they will instinctively reach for an object with either hand"
- 2 Chirality uncountable
"In the complexes, the direction and affinity of the hydroxy group for hydrogen bond toward the carboxy group of poly-12 may be the most important factor to control both the helical sense and an extent of the single-handedness, and therefore, the complexes with amino alcohols showed an intense ICD independent of the bulkiness of the substituent (R) with the same Cotton effect signs as the primary amines."
- 3 Lack of assistance. uncountable
"The process practices autarchy, exclusivism or single-handedness instead of a radical universalism, based on democracy and equality that can be achieved through a united struggle."
- 4 The quality of having or involving the use of only one hand. uncountable
"Maurice Ravel wrote a Concerto pour piano en sol majeur for both a left hand and a right hand, whereas the Concerto pour la main gauche marks itself as different in its declaration of single-handedness."
Example
More examples"Recent experiments and observations, however, prove that single-handedness is merely the result of faulty or restricted education. Careful observations have shown that out of every hundred persons born into this world eighty are congenitally ambidextrous — that is to say, they will instinctively reach for an object with either hand"
Etymology
From single-handed + -ness.
More for "single-handedness"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.