handwaving

comparative more handwaving · superlative most handwaving

1. not comparableWaving the hands.
2. Pertaining to empty gesturing, with little substance behind it; vague; not supported by data.

plural handwavings

1. alternativecountablefigurativelyuncountableAlternative form of hand waving (“empty gesturing”).

   McClatchy goes on to try and level a damning critique, which amounts to a lot of handwaving about things we already know.

   2009 November 3, “Squid Business”, in The Economist

   1 more example

   If one looks today at the logical literature, one finds that there is a great deal of handwaving going on of the same kind as that used by Gödel in his paper. That is, informal arguments are given to show that a formalization of a certain statement is formally provable in a certain theory.

   2017, Torkel Franzén, Inexhaustibility: A Non-Exhaustive Treatment, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 6

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of handwave