Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

upper hand

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.64 in modern English

Syllables: up-per -hand
IPA

17

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

8

Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

Advantage or control.

Uncountable

noun

The place of honour accorded to a social superior when walking together; the right of way in walking

Obsolete; Uncountable

Example Sentences

"There was no refusing him, for he had got the complete upper hand of the community, and the peaceful burghers all stood in awe of him."
"[C]uriosity began to get the upper hand, and I determined I should have one look through the cabin window."
"There it was Razumov who had the upper hand, in a composed sense of his own superiority."
"And because they live everywhere and reproduce quickly, bacteria have the upper hand."
""We've now protected the line from similar-sized flooding-events and bigger ones," he says. That's quite some claim for a line where floods have often had the upper hand in the past 16 years, causing track bed and embankments to be rebuilt."

Etymology

From Middle English over hond, from Old English ofer- + hand (superior control; superior position). Not, as supposed, from a card game or counting-out game.

Usage

Inflected Forms

the upper hand (canonical) upper hands (plural)

Synonyms

whip hand

Questions

What does upper hand mean?: Advantage or control.
Where does upper hand come from?: From Middle English over hond, from Old English ofer- + hand (superior control; superior position). Not, as supposed, from a card game or counting-out game.

How to pronounce upper hand

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