Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

red-handed

/ɹˈɛdhˈændɪd/

Word Rarity Uncommon

Frequency: Zipf frequency 4.37 in modern English

Syllables: red-hand-ed
IPA: /ɹˈɛdhˈændɪd/

15

Scrabble Score

9

Letters

3

Syllables

6

Unique Chars

Meaning

adj

Showing clear evidence of guilt; in the act of wrongdoing.

adj

Deadly, bloody.

adj

With hands that are red from blood.

Informal

Example Sentences

"to catch red-handed"
"Caught, red-handed, on the spot, in the very act of aiding and abetting the traitors against the Republic of France, the Englishman could claim no protection from his own country."
"Railway police are making a full investigation into the matter, and the headmasters of schools have been approached, but it is difficult in such cases to discover the culprits, unless they are caught red-handed."
"Another Southerner argued that "commerce has no social illusions" and that it would be commerce that would rid the region of "this historic, red-handed, deformed, and swaggering villain.""
"Your husband is having sex with other women -- that's perfectly clear. Sometimes when cheaters are nabbed red-handed they react with anger, they "rage" in an attempt to make the person who caught 'em feel like they did something wrong."
"Made sense she'd be nervous, right? Made sense that she'd jump like a red-handed pickpocket when her friend Danielle, whom she'd thought had zonked out the minute she'd buckled her seat belt ten minutes ago, threw out such an intimate topic of conversation."

Etymology

From red + handed, likening to a murderer with their hands red with the victim's blood. The phrase to be taken with red hand originally meant "to be caught in the act". The use of red hand in this sense dates back to at least the 15th century in medieval Scotland and Scots law. Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1819) contains the first recorded use of taken red-handed for someone apprehended in the act of committing a crime. The expression subsequently became more common as caught red-handed.

Usage

Informal

Inflected Forms

more red-handed (comparative) most red-handed (superlative)

Phrases

red-handedly red-handedness bang to rights caught with one's hand in the cookie jar in flagrante delicto pink-handed

Frequently Paired Words

bang to rights caught with one's hand in the cookie jar in flagrante delicto pink-handed wrongdoing

Synonyms

in flagrante delicto

Rhymes With

right-handed left-handed single-handed empty-handed branded commanded stranded remanded disbanded banded sanded underhanded

Questions

How do you pronounce red-handed?: The recorded pronunciation is /ɹˈɛdhˈændɪd/.
What does red-handed mean?: Showing clear evidence of guilt; in the act of wrongdoing.
Where does red-handed come from?: From red + handed, likening to a murderer with their hands red with the victim's blood. The phrase to be taken with red hand originally meant "to be caught in the act". The use of red hand in this sense dates back to at least the 15th century in medieval Scotland and Scots law. Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe (1819) contains the first recorded use of taken red-handed for someone apprehended in the act of committing a crime. The expression subsequently became more common as caught red-handed.

How to pronounce red-handed

Open the pronunciation page — Open the Speakur entry for “red-handed”.
Read the phonetic spelling — Read the IPA spelling (/ɹˈɛdhˈændɪd/) so you know which sounds to aim for.
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