Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

hands down

Word Rarity Common

Frequency: 5.08 in modern English

Syllables
hand-s -down
IPA
17
Scrabble Score
9
Letters
3
Syllables
7
Unique Chars

Meaning

adv

Without much effort; easily.

adv

By a large margin (in a game or contest).

adv

Without question; undoubtedly.

adv

Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hands, down.

verb

third-person singular simple present indicative of hand down

Example Sentences

Etymology

The origin of this colloquialism seems to have its roots in mid-19th century horseracing. When a horse jockey is nearing the finish line far ahead of the competition, "with victory certain", he could drop his hands, relaxing his hold on the reins, and "still win the race". By the late 19th century the phrase was being used in non-racing contexts to mean 'with no trouble at all.'

Inflected Forms

more hands down (comparative) most hands down (superlative) hands-down (alternative)

Synonyms

handily

Questions

What does hands down mean?
Without much effort; easily.
Where does hands down come from?
The origin of this colloquialism seems to have its roots in mid-19th century horseracing. When a horse jockey is nearing the finish line far ahead of the competition, "with victory certain", he could drop his hands, relaxing his hold on the reins, and "still win the race". By the late 19th century the phrase was being used in non-racing contexts to mean 'with no trouble at all.'

How to pronounce hands down

  1. Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “hands down”.
  2. Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling () so you know which sounds to aim for.
  3. Play the audio — Click Play to hear reference audio for “hands down”.
  4. Repeat and practice — Say “hands down” aloud, matching stress and vowels until it feels natural.