Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Working or done without help; unassisted.
  • adjective Intended for use with one hand.
  • adjective Having or using only one hand.
  • adjective Nautical Of, being, or restricted to a one-person sailing crew.
  • adverb In a single-handed manner.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Having only one hand.
  • Working without the aid of other hands or workmen; acting alone; unassisted.
  • Capable of being used, managed, or executed with one hand or by one person: as, a single-handed fishing-rod; a single-handed undertaking.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Having but one hand, or one workman; also, alone; unassisted.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Without help from others; unassisted.
  • adjective Using only one hand.
  • adjective Designed for only one hand.
  • adverb In a single-handed manner.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective without help from others
  • adjective unsupported by other people
  • adverb without assistance

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Brother Kevin slammed a barely believable 113 runs off 63 balls, the fastest century in a World Cup, to win the England game almost single-handed.

    Ireland, the Cup's Other Winners Richard Lord 2011

  • Yet the hardness was there, and it was what enabled him to run his ketch single-handed and to wring a livelihood out of the fighting Solomons.

    Chapter 8 2010

  • 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.

    Obituary - Jade Goody 1981-2009 Dungeekin 2009

  • Her radical approach to community relations led to the implementation of a stable unity government in Zimbabwe, and she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her single-handed resolution of the conflict in Sudan.

    Obituary - Jade Goody 1981-2009 Dungeekin 2009

  • Her radical approach to community relations led to the implementation of a stable unity government in Zimbabwe, and she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her single-handed resolution of the conflict in Sudan.

    Archive 2009-03-01 Dungeekin 2009

  • 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.

    Letters to the Editor 2010

  • 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.

    Letters to the Editor 2010

  • 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.

    Heroes or Villains? 2010

  • 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.

    Letters to the Editor 2010

  • 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.

    Archive 2009-03-01 Dungeekin 2009

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