Meanings
- The adage stating "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
McCord may have bungled the taping of the internal doors, all right, but remember Hanlon's Razor, which is a maxim that states: "Never blame on malice that which can be fully explained by stupidity."
1980 October, G. Gordon Liddy, quotee, “Playboy Interview: G. Gordon Liddy”, in Playboy, volume 27, number 10, Chicago, →ISSN, page 2111 more example
But at many other times, journalists come up with overly convoluted explanations for Trump's behavior ("this seemingly self-destructive emotional outburst is actually a clever political strategy!") when simpler ones will suffice ("this is a self-destructive emotional outburst."). In doing so, they violate both Ockham's razor and Hanlon's razor — the latter of which can be stated as "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity."
2017 September 30, Nate Silver, “The Media Needs To Stop Rationalizing President Trump's Behavior”, in FiveThirtyEight, archived from the original on 30 Sep 2017
Origin
Named by analogy with Occam's razor after Robert J. Hanlon of Scranton, Pennsylvania, who was credited for the adage he submitted to a compilation of various jokes related to Murphy’s law published in Arthur Bloch’s Murphy’s Law Book Two: More Reasons Why Things Go Wrong! (1980); however, a similar quotation appears in Robert A. Heinlein’s “Logic of Empire” (1941), “You have attributed conditions to villainy that simply result from stupidity”, wherein it is described as the “devil theory” of sociology.
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Chinese Mandarin 漢隆剃刀 /汉隆剃刀
- 漢隆剃刀 /汉隆剃刀Translations
French rasoir d’Hanlon
- rasoir d’HanlonTranslations
Polish brzytwa Hanlona
- brzytwa HanlonaTranslations
Cite this entry
Hanlon's razor. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hanlon's%20razor
“Hanlon's razor.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hanlon's%20razor. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Hanlon's razor,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Hanlon's%20razor.
Source: Hanlon's razor on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.