light-handed
Part of speech: adj
adv
Morphological type: derivation
Topics: food
government
lifestyle
military
nautical
politics
transport
war
Etymology: From Middle English lyghte handyd, from light (adjective) + honded, participle of honden (“to seize, take charge of”), from the noun hond (“hand”). See more at hand.
Base: light
Inflected forms:
form: lighter-handed
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: more light-handed
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: lightest-handed
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: most light-handed
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: lighthanded
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: more light-handed
pos: adv
tags: comparative
form: most light-handed
pos: adv
tags: superlative
form: lighthanded
pos: adv
tags: alternative
Senses:
gloss: Gentle; benign and with minimal intervention.
pos: adj
examples: Does it reflect your position toward the other agencies that, in the words of your Deputy, this program should be as lighthanded as possible?
On the other hand, lighthanded methods are believed to have more subtle effects on behaviors, often through influencing attitudes, creating knowledge, or manipulating the environment to accomplish desirable ends.
They are aware that the more light-handed their power, the more effective it is.
FERC then drew on a potentially significant dictum from Farmers Union II: "Moving from heavy to lighthanded regulation within the boundaries of an unchanged statute can ... be justified by a showing that under current circumstances the goal and purposes of the statute will be accomplished through substantially less regulatory oversight."
At the other extreme, the view has been that light-handed 'regulation' is a euphemism for 'handsoff'.
By maintaining a light-handed approach, regulations could be kept to a minimum, with additional measures introduced to overcome any weaknesses in the regulartory framework that arose over time.
gloss: Sparing; applying only slight pressure or minimal amounts.
pos: adj
examples: The shadow was now also applied to the lower lash line, but still very light-handed.
Kate's light-handed copyedit is shown in figure 1, along with a medium and heavy copyediting of the same passage.
honey tends to soak into the cake, so be light-handed with it
When sewing strip sets, use a lighthanded approach feeding the strips under the presser foot so the crosswise grain isn't stretched.
When it came to food, Melissa preferred subtle nuance and lighthanded seasoning.
Did you know that the light-handed, 'less is more' approach works best even for heavy acne and deep wrinkles?
gloss: Delicate and skilled; nimble and dextrous
pos: adj
examples: Winterbourne constantly attended for news from the sick-room, which reached him, however, but with worrying indirectness, though he once had speech, for a moment, of the poor girl's physician and once saw Mrs Miller, who, sharply alarmed, struck him as thereby more happily inspired than he could have conceived and indeed as the most noiseless and lighthanded of nurses.
The early works of this painter are a complete study for lighthanded and beautiful execution; they look imitatively perfect, yet many instances are known of his extreme rapidity of execution.
Fowl boiled with a mayonnaise sauce flavored variously, or served in aspic jelly; chicken pie with a crust made from Mrs. Beeton's recipe, and by a light-handed cook, forms a dish not to be despised on a hot day.
From all evidence he manages the subtle responsibilities of the tdvana role with a delicate and lighthanded virtuosity.
He had hoped -- Fleming sighed a little and frowned a little as he though of his aspirations-- that he could have got a partner to fertilize the flowers. A light-handed partner, with the deftness for the pinch and the touch with the toothpick that was all the work demanded in the early morning hours of coolness.
This much she knew her mother to be aiming for, motivated by a need to escape the fate and the malice of women like Maud, a need to arrange matters by her own light-handed, cool-hearted expertise so that when High Grange did become the property of Francis, or another, she would be in a position to laugh as she took her leave, driving off in her own carriage to pleasures of her own choosing, in her own home.
The children are so quick and light-handed, the victim doesn't feel a thing.
gloss: Light-hearted; fun and witty or easygoing.
pos: adj
examples: 1981-1982, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
We make several light-handed or joking references to my change.
Both were extensively-travelled cosmopolitans, popular and at home in salons across the world; good talkers (Yazid often to excess) with perfect command of English, a light-handed sense of humour and easy-going manners.
This piece of advice and the hyperkinetic manner in which it was staged owed less to McCay's light-handed and dreamily paced fantasy than to the boy wonder of Broadway and the amusement empire that he tried to amass during the first decade of the twentieth century..
If you live and work in a small town atmosphere and can find acceptable ways to make yourself and your enterprise known in a lighthanded way to either or both groups in your town, you may find that some day down the road one of them will mention you to a family member who has just offhandedly mentioned the need to get rid of a collection of books.
Gaiety and an overflowing, outpouring love, warmth and clarity, a lighthanded ease, replaced the tormented tension of the will which had marked the outgrown stage.
In recovering the pointedly Spinozist impulse, the deeper critical motivation behind Heine's seemingly lighthanded poetic playfulness comes to the fore.
He seemed likeable, a scrupulous, slow young man, without the disengagedness of Considine, that light-hearted, light-handed seducer who (Edward had come to believe) even shot lions negligently.
gloss: Flippant; lacking seriousness.
pos: adj
examples: Philip Penna, of Indiana, a veteran of many labor controversies, roundly scored the United Mine Workers for their light-handed treatment of their contracts.
gloss: Not having a full complement of workers.
pos: adj
examples: “We will hold on to the last, while he must begin to take in soon, or the squall will come upon him too fast for a light-handed vessel.”
If light-handed, or the wind fresh, let go the bowline and ease off the tack, (being careful to let the bowline go before the tack,) and haul up the weather clew.
Bower anchors should be alike in weight; for the convenience, however, of light-handed crews, it is customary to make a very material difference between them, which is a very grave error
Being so lighthanded the vessel could not be properly managed and could carry but little sail, consequently her progress was but slow.
I have therefore ordered Fuller's brigade from Memphis to Big Bear Creek, which leaves me very light-handed here.
I looked at the round bows of the sloop, and then at the old sails and the light-handed crew.
gloss: Thieving, larcenous.
pos: adj
examples: Thae Hielandmen are o' the westland clans, and just as light-handed as their neighbours, an a' tales be true
Indeed, she knew how to make young Deelbelicket, old Dougald Baresword, the Laird of Bandybrawl, and others, pay for the hospitality which she did not think proper to deny them, by rendering them useful in her negociations with the light-handed lads beyond the Cairn, who, finding their late object of plunder was allied to "kend folks, and owned by them at kirk and market," became satisfied, on a moderate yearly composition, to desist from their depredations.
He has a great many amusing episodes describing the light-handed lads from the hills coming down, and in the general confusion of the times plundering Cavalier and Covenanter alike; [...]
Another of his duties was to keep a sharp look-out for light-handed customers, besides other occupations which time, as Mr. Blackley said, would teach him.
You understand what darkies are—as curious as magpies and quite as lighthanded. If one of them had chanced to see Effingham hiding something behind the clock, he would be sure to investigate for himself at the first convenient opportunity.
Captive rowlocks keep the oars in the boat while you 're rowing and discourage lighthanded hardware seekers when you go ashore.
gloss: Fresh and light-tasting, not rich, heavy, or highly seasoned.
pos: adj
examples: Lively, fresh-tasting, and light-handed in style, it pairs well with any food that likes a dry white with a bit of fruit to it, from chips 'n' dips, shrimp cocktail, and pates to entree salads and poultry.
It's a sweet little bistro, a local favorite, turning out bright, lovely French/Mediterranean-influenced dishes like sautéed escargot in a Roquefort gratiné, and light-handed scallops with pea shoots and bowfin caviar.
Fruit jellies offer an excellent, light-handed way of making vibrantly fresh desserts to round off a rich meal.
gloss: Having or requiring little strength.
pos: adj
tags: obsolete
examples: December. Month for sheep-shearing. Rather light-handed for this work.
...are such as the cotton, woolen, and shoe factories, wherein the use of machinery has made mere human tenders of the operatives employed; or in such industries as the making of garments, wherein light-handed and comparatively unskilled labor, such as that of women and children, embodies the very worst features of an utterly selfish competition, and leaves the worker almost entirely at the mercy of "sweaters" and "middle-men."
gloss: Carrying very little.
pos: adv
examples: 'Are ye come light-handed, ye son of a toom whistle?' said Sir Robert. 'Zounds! if you are'
The true state of the case is, that manufactures, as a general thing, in view of the depressed condition of the trade, have been making calculations to do a light business, and got out their logs sooner than they expected, and will on the whole do rather more than they had anticipated, having gone into the woods lighthanded.
Sometimes, on the contrary, they are so harassed by the Blackfoot, who surprise them in the night and carry off their horses, that they are forced to return light-handed, and then they have nothing to eat but roots all the winter.
The trip was to be a short one this time, and he was going lighthanded, leaving behind him the necessities of life as represented by American articles of diet.
Though he prayed for a moose, just one moose,all game seemed to have deserted the land, and nightfall found the exhausted man crawling into camp, lighthanded, heavyhearted.
Some who had sold their outfits at Skagway, and pushed on light-handed so as to get through, began to appropriate new outfits on the other side.
gloss: In a light-handed manner.
pos: adv
examples: At first merely fidgety, and managed with the greatest delicacy by the English postilion, then ill-tempered and capricious, swerving from side to side, necessitating in self-defence the use of the whip—“ But only gently and light-handed, ..."
See; not a hair is, not an eyelash, not the least lash lost; every hair
Is, hair of the head, numbered.
Nay, what we had lighthanded left in surly the mere mould
Will have waked and have waxed and have walked in the wind what while we slept, […]
He must go lighthanded to whatever it was that impended.
Derived words: light-handedly
light-handedness
Translations: