Meanings
hands down1
comparative more hands down · superlative most hands down · alternative hands-down
hands down2
alternative hands-down
- indicativepresentsingularthird personthird-person singular simple present indicative of hand down
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbwith no difficulty
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
hands down · adverb
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.'
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Arabic بِسُهُولَة
- بِسُهُولَة (bisuhūla)without much effort, easily
Dutch met losse handen, met gemak
- met losse handenwithout much effort, easily
- met gemakwithout much effort, easily
- moeitelooswithout much effort, easily
Finnish helposti
- helpostiwithout much effort, easily
French les doigts dans le nez, haut la main
- les doigts dans le nezwithout much effort, easily
- haut la mainwithout much effort, easily
German leichthin, mühelos
- leichthinwithout much effort, easily
- müheloswithout much effort, easily
- spielendwithout much effort, easily
- lockerwithout much effort, easily
- mit Leichtigkeitwithout much effort, easily
- mit Linkswithout much effort, easily
- mit Abstandby a large margin
- mit großem Vorsprungby a large margin
- keine Fragewithout question
- ganz ohne Zweifelwithout question
- ohne Fragewithout question
- zweifelloswithout question
Greek αβρόχοις ποσίν
- αβρόχοις ποσίν (avróchois posín)without much effort, easily
Italian ad occhi chiusi, senza dubbio
- ad occhi chiusiwithout much effort, easily
- senza dubbiowithout question
Polish bez wysiłku, z kretesem
- bez wysiłkuwithout much effort, easily
- z kretesemby a large margin
- bez dwóch zdańwithout question
Portuguese com uma mão nas costas, com uma perna às costas
- com uma mão nas costaswithout much effort, easily
- com uma perna às costaswithout much effort, easily
Romanian fără efort, cu ușurință
- fără efortwithout much effort, easily
- cu ușurințăwithout much effort, easily
Spanish fácilmente, definitivamente
- fácilmentewithout much effort, easily
- definitivamentewithout question
- sin lugar a dudawithout question
Turkish kolayca, kolaylıkla
- kolaycawithout much effort, easily
- kolaylıklawithout much effort, easily
- tereyağından kıl çeker gibiwithout much effort, easily
- kuşkusuzwithout question
- şüphesizwithout question
Cite this entry
hands down. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hands%20down
“hands down.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hands%20down. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “hands down,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/hands%20down.
Source: hands down on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.