Handwaving
Definition, Meaning & Examples
Pronunciation /ˈhandweɪvɪŋ/ · Part of speech adjective
Quick meaning: Handwaving is an adjective meaning (not comparable) Waving the hands.
Meaning
(not comparable) Waving the hands.
More Meanings
- Pertaining to empty gesturing, with little substance behind it; vague; not supported by data.
- present participle and gerund of handwave
- (chiefly figuratively) Alternative form of hand waving (“empty gesturing”).
Example Sentences
McClatchy goes on to try and level a damning critique, which amounts to a lot of handwaving about things we already know.
If one looks today at the logical literature, one finds that there is a great deal of handwaving going on of the same kind as that used by Gödel in his paper. That is, informal arguments are given to show that a formalization of a certain statement is formally provable in a certain theory.
Word Forms
- handwavings
Related Words
Related dictionary entries include waggly, switchy, annuent, swashing, swooshy, aswish.
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Sources & Attribution
FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0
Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.