Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Marked by or done in a deceptive, secret, or sly manner; dishonest and sneaky. See Synonyms at secret.
- adj. Sports Executed with the hand brought forward and up from below the level of the shoulder; underarm: an underhand pitch.
- adv. With an underhand movement: Throw the ball underhand.
- adv. In a sly and secret way.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- By secret means; in a clandestine manner, and often with an evil design.
- By fraud; by fraudulent means.
- Secret; clandestine: usually implying meanness or fraud, or both.
- Sly; contriving; deceitful.
- Performed or done with the knuckles of the hand turned under, the palm upward, and the thumb turned from the body: as, underhand bowling in cricket.
Wiktionary
- adj. dishonest and sneaky; done in a secret or sly manner
- adj. of a ball thrown etc with the hand brought forward and up from below
- adv. with an underhand movement
- adv. in a sly, sneaky or secret manner
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Secret; clandestine; hence, mean; unfair; fraudulent.
- adj. (Baseball, Cricket, etc.) Done, as pitching, with the hand lower than the shoulder, or, as bowling, with the hand lower than the elbow.
- adv. By secret means; in a clandestine manner; hence, by fraud; unfairly; dishonorably.
- adv. (Baseball, Cricket, etc.) In an underhand manner; thrown with the hand no higher than the shoulder and the palm turned upward during part of the pitch; -- said of pitching or bowling a ball.
WordNet 3.0
- adv. slyly and secretly
- adj. with hand brought forward and up from below shoulder level
- adj. marked by deception
- adv. with the hand swung below shoulder level
Etymologies
- Old English under hand (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The head of Nato in Libya, Lieutenant-General Charles Bouchard, said Col Gaddafi's forces had employed what he called underhand and immoral tactics in their seven-week drive to dislodge the rebels from the city.”
“Taking that an 'putting it with the murder an' other funny things that's been happening about Mr. Sumner lately, it 'pears to me that something underhand is going on, he said with a deferential bow.”
“It was of course the law of the place that they were never to take no notice, as Mr. Buckton said, whom they served; but this also never prevented, certainly on the same gentleman's own part, what he was fond of describing as the underhand game.”
“The statement is cut short as the blind man draws his sword underhand, drives the point into his damaged right foot, and contorts his body with torso straining into a ninety degree bend.”
Ain't It Cool News - The best in movie, TV, DVD, and comic book news.
“ZAKARIA: And what do you say to people who say, this was a kind of underhand move, it should have been done by referendum?”
“Deputy President Thabo Mbeki's office on Sunday issued a statement rejecting what it said were suggestions in weekend newspaper that he played an "underhand" role in Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to quit as deputy chairman of the New Africa Investment”
“I have watched her from time to time, and I can not find that she has ever been guilty of disobedience to rules, or any kind of underhand behavior.”
“I never did and still do think they never meant more than to give us a kind of underhand assistance; that is, to supply us with arms, etc., for our money and trade.”
“He made one president, and could have been it himself, instead, if he'd be'n willing to do a kind of underhand trick, but I expect without it he was about as big a man as anybody'd care to be; Governor, Senator, Secretary of State -- and just owned his party!”
“To effectuate this was the work of Alfieri -- of Alfieri, who, of all men, was most interested to keep Mme. d'Albany in her husband's house; of Alfieri, who, of all men, was the least fitted for any kind of underhand practices.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘underhand’.
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Handy Words
List of words and phrases referring to the hand, hands, fist, or derivatives of the Latin manus, beginning with left-handed.
left-handed, double-fisted, fisticuffs, handy, right-handed, two-handed, manual, manumission, manuscript, manually, manustupration, manudiction and 164 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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cricket
everything cricket
backlift, bail, batsman, batsmen, batswoman, batswomen, beamer, blockhole, bodyline, bosie, bouncer, boundary and 471 more...
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1stDay
lucid, tenacious, adhesive, cling, reconcile, scenic, picturesque, inundate, gastrointestinal, diarrhea, heredity, alimentary canal and 89 more...
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hard to sense
somewhat, somewhere, elsewhere, whereby, likewise, spite, ever, along, otherwise, whatever, whichever, hitherto and 116 more...
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ash
ash
abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abide, abject, abjure and 4874 more...
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Not the Clearest of Intentions
You ever try to read someone who can't be read? What is he thinking? What is he going to do? Whose side is he really on?
hidden agenda, doublespeak, backstabbing, treasonous, covert, mysterious, questionable, shady, flattering, sycophant, brownnose, secretive and 78 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for underhand.
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