underhanded

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Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

underhanded¹

adjective more underhanded · most underhanded · under-handed

  1. Done by moving the hand (and arm) from below. Golf is an underhanded game, because we must swing the club in an underhanded motion in order to play the ball off the ground.
  2. Sly, dishonest, corrupt, cheating. His underhanded trick backfired and he was disqualified.
  3. Insincere; sarcastic. An underhanded compliment is actually criticism.

    Similar: backhanded

  4. Secret; surreptitious. And, although the mystery of an unsigned note rather thrilled her, it seemed underhanded. And June hated underhanded things.

    Similar: sneaky

  5. Understaffed. Between 9.30, when the first shot was fired, and 11.45 a.m., the enemy, well aware of his vast superiority in men — the ' Intrepid,' being, as was usual with the Company's cruisers, underhanded — made two attempts to run her on board and throw an overpowering force on the brig's decks.

    Similar: underhand, understaffed

adverb more underhanded · most underhanded · under-handed

  1. In an underhanded manner. Bonino required each of us to shoot our free throws underhanded.

    Similar: underhandedly

noun the underhanded · under-handed

  1. plural, plural only Devious people, collectively. We have fallen to the underhanded and label it a greater means.

underhanded²

Where it comes from

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

verb

  1. participle, past simple past and past participle of underhand

Translations

Every language

adj sly

日本語卑怯な hikyouna
Deutschhinterhältig, hinterlistig
Ελληνικάδόλιος dólios, ύπουλος ýpoulos
Русскийподлый podlyj

adj sarcastic

Deutschsarkastisch
Русскийсаркастичный sarkastičnyj

adj secret

Deutschheimlich, verdeckt

adj understaffed

Deutschunterbesetzt

adv in an underhand manner

Ελληνικάδολίως dolíos

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Cite this
MLA

"underhanded." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/underhanded. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

underhanded. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/underhanded

Chicago

"underhanded." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/underhanded.

BibTeX
@misc{underhanded_2026,
  title = {underhanded},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/underhanded},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}