dead hand
- noun
- Formal
:
influencia del pasado
- In education reform, overcoming the dead hand of outdated practices is crucial for meaningful change.
And it's at this point that modern party discipline, as I've experienced it, brings its dead hand to play.
- And it's at this point that modern party discipline, as I've experienced it, brings its dead hand to play.
Examples
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That the living should be controlling things, the path, the dead hand of the past should not have weight in the presence.
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And it's at this point that modern party discipline, as I've experienced it, brings its dead hand to play.
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Drugs, I regret to say, were part of our landscape too; we bought into the counterculture's glorification of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll as the way to blast our generation loose from the dead hand of conformity and the dreaded prospect of turning into our parents.
Academic text (2010) -
The dead hand of bureaucracy often hinders innovation and progress within the organization.
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Many believe that the dead hand of tradition prevents us from embracing new ideas and technologies.
Synonyms
A past rule or tradition that still controls and prevents change
A controlling past influence that stops new ideas
Antonyms
How Restrictive
Surface Forms
Morphology
dead + hand
The adjective 'dead' (inactive, from the past) combined with the metaphorical use of 'hand' (an agent of control or influence) plausibly yields the sense of a lingering, restrictive influence. However, this is a figurative/metaphorical composition rather than a literal, fully predictable combination, so a B1 learner who knows the words might not reliably infer the exact idiomatic meaning without exposure.
Etymology
Dead hand is also used for the lasting control of old rules or ideas. Picture a dead hand from the past still holding down new plans; that image shows why we say the 'dead hand' of tradition 'holds progress back'.