Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "single-handed" [sin•gle-hand•ed]

  • Working or done without help; unassisted. (adjective)
  • Intended for use with one hand. (adjective)
  • Having or using only one hand. (adjective)
  • In a single-handed manner. (adverb)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "single-handed" in a sentence
  • "No one like Rambo is going to help Americans discover the fate of missing soldiers in Southeast Asia and popular movies portraying such single-handed heroics are a disservice to the country, according to a former prisoner of war."
  • "I am hopeful that China will emerge as a partner to the U.S. on such issues as terrorism, disaster relief, and nation-building, but we should be aware that as we have made economic choices to pursue these objectives in an almost single-handed fashion, we now find our economy exposed to a trading partner whose interests may differ from ours."
  • "During her 'gap year', as she described it, she found time to row single-handed around the world backwards, and also carried out the first solo trek by a woman to both Poles, in doing so beating Sir Ranulph Fiennes 'long-standing speed record."