deal a hand

verb

To distribute a hand of cards at random to a player.

“Yeah, this Caucasian country was dealt a very poor geographic hand.”

Ask AI about this wordChatGPTClaudePerplexityGoogle AIGrok

Meanings

verbdeal a hand (third-person singular simple present deals a hand, present participle dealing a hand, simple past and past participle dealt a hand)

present singular third person deals a hand · participle present dealing a hand · participle past dealt a hand · past dealt a hand

  1. To distribute a hand of cards at random to a player.
  2. idiomaticTo assign circumstances in life to someone.

    Yeah, this Caucasian country was dealt a very poor geographic hand.

Origin

From the sense of a hand in card games, as the outcome of a game depends on the hands that are dealt.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

deal a hand. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deal%20a%20hand

MLA

“deal a hand.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deal%20a%20hand. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “deal a hand,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/deal%20a%20hand.

Source: deal a hand on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.