ham-handed

American

[ham-han-did] / ˈhæmˈhæn dɪd /

especially British, ham-fisted

adjective

clumsy, inept, or heavy-handed.

a ham-handed approach to dealing with people that hurts a lot of feelings.

Other Word Forms

hamhandedness noun

Etymology

Origin of ham-handed

First recorded in 1915–20

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Governments will be tempted by ham-handed policy responses.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

That’s the bigger story that is being lost in the government’s egregious, ham-handed attempt to turn Ábrego García into an object lesson.

From Salon • Jul. 17, 2025

While the film’s execution seems expert on the surface, the internal narrative design is unfortunately ham-handed and woefully dull.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 11, 2025

A number of missteps and misstatements - including a ham-handed June 2021 interview with NBC News presenter Lester Holt – damaged her standing and opened her to conservative attacks.

From BBC • Jul. 22, 2024

I was getting ham-handed and mutton-fisted, flapping the old things every day; felt I wanted to stunt about a bit.

From Mr. Punch's History of the Great War by Graves, Charles L. (Charles Larcom)

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023