light-handed
Gentle; benign and with minimal interventionGentle; benign and with minimal intervention.
Meaning
9 sensesGentle; benign and with minimal intervention.
Sparing; applying only slight pressure or minimal amounts.
Delicate and skilled; nimble and dextrous
Light-hearted; fun and witty or easygoing.
1981-1982, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure We make several light-handed or joking references to my change.
Flippant; lacking seriousness.
Not having a full complement of workers.
Thieving, larcenous.
Fresh and light-tasting, not rich, heavy, or highly seasoned.
(obsolete)Having or requiring little strength.
- having a metaphorically delicate touch
Origin
From Middle English lyghte handyd, from light (adjective) + honded, participle of honden (From Middle English lyghte handyd, from light (adjective) + honded, participle of honden (“to seize, take charge of”), from the noun hond (“hand”). See more at hand.
Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source
Forms
lighter-handed/more light-handed, lightest-handed/most light-handed| Comparative | lighter-handed / more light-handed Lesson |
|---|---|
| Superlative | lightest-handed / most light-handed Lesson |
regular
Lessons for this word
2 lessons- A2Comparatives — Because it has a comparative form
- A2Superlatives — Because it has a superlative form
See also
neighbours in the dictionaryDictionary text adapted from Wiktionary (Wiktionary contributors, CC BY-SA 4.0) and Open English WordNet / Princeton WordNet (CC BY 4.0, WordNet License); shared under CC BY-SA 4.0. Example sentences and recordings are credited where they appear.