hands down
English
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hands down¹
Where it comes from
The origin of this colloquialism seems to have its roots in mid-19th century horseracing. When a horse jockey is nearing the finish line far ahead of the competition, "with victory certain", he could drop his hands, relaxing his hold on the reins, and "still win the race". By the late 19th century the phrase was being used in non-racing contexts to mean 'with no trouble at all.'
adverb more hands down · most hands down · hands-down
- Without much effort; easily.
- By a large margin (in a game or contest).
- Without question; undoubtedly. That is a rather difficult task, hands down.
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see hands, down.
hands down²
Where it comes from
See hand down.
verb hands-down
- third-person singular simple present indicative of hand down
Translations
Every language
adv without much effort, easily
| Español | fácilmente |
|---|---|
| Português | com uma mão nas costas, com uma perna às costas |
| Français | les doigts dans le nez, haut la main |
| Deutsch | leichthin, mühelos, spielend, locker, mit Leichtigkeit, mit Links |
| Italiano | ad occhi chiusi |
| Ελληνικά | αβρόχοις ποσίν avróchois posín |
| Română | fără efort, cu ușurință |
| العربية | بِسُهُولَة bisuhūla |
adv by a large margin
| Deutsch | mit Abstand, mit großem Vorsprung |
|---|
adv without question
| Español | definitivamente, sin lugar a duda |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | keine Frage, ganz ohne Zweifel, ohne Frage, zweifellos |
| Italiano | senza dubbio |
Talk about this word "hands down." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/hands%20down. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. hands down. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/hands%20down "hands down." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/hands%20down.Cite this
@misc{hands_down_2026,
title = {hands down},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/hands%20down},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
