Meanings
- alternativeuncountableAlternative form of iron-handedness.
He is amiable where iron[-]handedness is essential.
1904 March 5, “Personality of the Czar”, in The Search-light, page 2221 more example
The actress Arletty, who feels genuine affection for Carne and believes that his ironhandedness on the set "was pure show," compares the director to conductor Herbert von Karajan, because "like von Karajan, he treats his shooting scripts like musical scores which he conducts entirely from memory ... We felt secure with him because he knew exactly what the final product was supposed to look like."
1989, Edward Baron Turk, Child of Paradise: Marcel Carné and the Golden Age of French Cinema, →ISBN, page 53
Origin
Cite this entry
ironhandedness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ironhandedness
“ironhandedness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ironhandedness. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “ironhandedness,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/ironhandedness.
Source: ironhandedness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.