hands-on

[ handz-on, -awn ]

adjective

1. characterized by or involved in active personal participation in an activity; individual and direct:

   a workshop to give children hands-on experience with computers.

2. requiring manual operation, control, adjustment, or the like; not automatic or computerized:

   the old hands-on telephone switchboards.

hands-on

adjective

1. involving practical experience of equipment, etc

   hands-on training in the use of computers

Word History and Origins

Origin of hands-on¹

First recorded in 1905–10; by analogy with hands-off

Example Sentences

Inevitably, the old visceral “hands-on” flying skills, no longer much employed by pilots, have atrophied like an unused limb.

From The Daily Beast

Given that crucial importance, The Macallan is famously hands-on when it comes to its wooden barrels.

From The Daily Beast

For starters, from a purely practical, all-hands-on-deck position, I say if you can do the job, you should keep the job.

From The Daily Beast

Adelson is known for being a hands-on donor who makes decisions carefully.

From The Daily Beast

The “hands-on” laboratory allows visitors to use some of the technology, including being three-dimensionally scanned and printed.

From The Daily Beast

I am speaking of a new engagement in the lives of others, a new activism, hands-on and involved, that gets the job done.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• firsthand