single-handedly

adverb

Alone; without assistance; by oneself.

“She single-handedly organized the whole event, and even set up all the chairs herself.”

Meanings

adverbsingle-handedly (not comparable)

alternative singlehandedly

  1. not comparableAlone; without assistance; by oneself.

    She single-handedly organized the whole event, and even set up all the chairs herself.

    2 more examples

    Charlie Chaplin, the poignant little tramp with the cane and comic walk who almost single — handedly elevated the novelty entertainment medium of motion pictures into art, died peacefully yesterday at his home in Switzerland[…]

    1977 December 26, “Charlie Chaplin Dead at 88; Made the Film an Art Form”, in The New York Times

    “Despite the surge in prices weighing on their purchasing power, the U.S. consumer now appears to be single-handedly keeping the global economy afloat,” Paul Ashworth, an economist at Capital Economics, wrote in a note.

    2022 May 17, Coral Murphy Marcos, “Retail sales rise for the fourth straight month as prices keep climbing.”, in The New York Times

    Synonyms: alone, by oneself, by one's lonesome, on one's lonesome, on one's own, single-handed, singly, unaidedly

Synonyms & antonyms

More synonyms by meaning

adverbwithout assistance

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

  1. Englishsingle-handed
  2. Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
  3. Proto-Germanic*līką
  4. Englishsingle-handedly

From single-handed + -ly.

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Chinese Mandarin 一手
  • 一手 (yīshǒu)alone; without assistance; by oneself
Finnish omin avuin
  • omin avuinalone; without assistance; by oneself
German eigenhändig
  • eigenhändigalone; without assistance; by oneself
Italian da solo, con le proprie forze
  • da soloalone; without assistance; by oneself
  • con le proprie forzealone; without assistance; by oneself
Polish samodzielnie
  • samodzielniealone; without assistance; by oneself
Russian собственнору́чно, самостоя́тельно
  • собственнору́чно (sobstvennorúčno)alone; without assistance; by oneself
  • самостоя́тельно (samostojátelʹno)alone; without assistance; by oneself
Spanish por sí solo, por sí mismo
  • por sí soloalone; without assistance; by oneself
  • por sí mismoalone; without assistance; by oneself
  • por cuenta propiaalone; without assistance; by oneself
Swedish på egen hand, egenhändigt
  • på egen handalone; without assistance; by oneself
  • egenhändigtalone; without assistance; by oneself
Cite this entry
APA

single-handedly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/single-handedly

MLA

“single-handedly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/single-handedly. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “single-handedly,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/single-handedly.

Source: single-handedly on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.