Meaning

Mindless, plodding, or passive; stultifying.

Definitions by Sense

1. Mindless, plodding, or passive; stultifying
2. (golf) Having very little wrist or hand action.
3. Having limp or weak hands.
4. Red-handed; having clear evidence of guilt.
5. Red-handed, with clear evidence of guilt.

Example Sentences

No, it was stupid, dead-handed higher authority that made the army dead: absolutely fool-dead.

In contrast, Washington was like a cold bath on a January morning; we were quickly made aware of the dead-handed grasp of the bureaucracy, the unwillingness of all but a few top leaders to consider old problems in fresh terms

There's a wash of noise I am somehow part of, dead-handed. The first song is pretty much over before I even realize we're playing.

Then simply hit a dead-handed chip, with the hands, wrists and arms all swinging together as if in a solid block.

My mother laughs from her grave, such are my sewing skills, but among these dead-handed men my wielding of a needle is nothing short of a miracle.

Charlie blushed as if he had been caught in the act of dead-handed idiocy.

Your man is caught dead-handed. He has the gun in his hand, or the marijuana in the car, or the narcotics in his suitcase...

Word Forms

• more dead-handed
• most dead-handed
• deadhanded

Related Words

When Should You Use Dead-handed?

Use dead-handed when its meaning, tone and grammar fit the full sentence. A synonym is not always a direct replacement.

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