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View synonyms for handful

handful

[ hand-fool ]

noun

, plural hand·fuls.
  1. the quantity or amount that the hand can hold:

    a handful of coins.

  2. a small amount, number, or quantity:

    a handful of men.

  3. Informal. a person or thing that is as much as one can manage or control:

    The baby's tantrums made him a handful.



handful

/ ˈhændfʊl /

noun

  1. the amount or number that can be held in the hand
  2. a small number or quantity
  3. informal.
    a person or thing difficult to manage or control
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Spelling Note

See -ful.
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Word History and Origins

Origin of handful1

before 900; Middle English, Old English. See hand, -ful
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Example Sentences

Major League Baseball will run the same experiment, with a different handful of teams.

Freeman’s idea for greater technological transparency started with a handful of waterproof pages he posted around his Alabama neighborhood.

Her comments come as the government reveals plans to merge the UK's local government pension scheme, a group of funds which together manage £354bn in investments, into a handful of "pension megafunds".

From BBC

He estimated that trenches crossed into the AoS in a handful locations, by a couple of metres in each case, but said he had not visited the sites himself.

From BBC

Its products are already in use in a handful of L.A.

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