Meanings
alternative singlehandedly
- 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 TimesSynonyms: alone, by oneself, by one's lonesome, on one's lonesome, on one's own, single-handed, singly, unaidedly
Synonyms & antonyms
adverbAlone; without assistance; by oneself.
More synonyms by meaning
adverbwithout assistance
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Englishsingle-handed
- Proto-Indo-European*leyg-
- Proto-Germanic*līką
- 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
single-handedly. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/single-handedly
“single-handedly.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/single-handedly. Accessed November 3, 2026.
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.