Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
😰 Excessive worry 😰 Overly anxious
handwringing

handwringing

2 8.1
Too much worry shown by nervous gestures or talk
  • noun
  • /ˈhændˌrɪŋɪŋ/
  • Informal
translation icon : gesticulación
  • Well, you can call it handwringing, but I think I'm trying to be realistic.
  • lots of handwringing
  • much handwringing
  • sort of handwringing

Examples

  • I really think the handwringing over Loria is overdone.

    Blog text (29)

  • The ICC's birth, for example, occasioned far more handwringing than applause in the Pentagon and the State Department.

    Academic text (2008)

  • And unfortunately, there is far too little handwringing about it in the Jewish leadership.

    Blog text (3)

  • So, all the handwringing can now stop, and so can all the crap about not funding him.

    Blog text (15)

  • I asked it yesterday and got back a lot of handwringing.

    Blog text (16)

  • There's a lot of handwringing around the election.

    Blog text (21)

  • I think there is some overthinking and needless handwringing going on here.

    Blog text (31)

  • Our argument cuts both ways; it is clear from the annual handwringing in the business pages that declines in Christmas spending would have an adverse economic impact.

    Academic text (1992)

  • Much of the handwringing about U.S. grand strategy has been overblown—but the Obama administration has inherited a world of great uncertainty.

    Academic text (2011)

  • During the meeting, there was a lot of handwringing about the new policy changes, but no one proposed any solutions.

Synonyms

hand wringing
vshandwringing
  • Informal
13 7.7

A way of showing too much worry by repeatedly twisting or clasping the hands

is written as one word rather than two separate words

Antonyms

composure
38 5.1

Calm control of your feelings and actions in a difficult situation

calmness
9 2.7

A state without strong feelings or worry in your mind

How Worried

to panic
272 2.3
distress
240 3.6
handwringing
  • Informal
2 8.1
worry
290 1.0
concern
∞ 1.5
unease
19 4.4

Surface Forms

handwringing singular
handwringings plural

Morphology

handwringing = hand-wring (semi-transparent) = hand + wring + ing

Derived from the literal gesture 'wringing one's hands' (hand + wring) but used metaphorically to mean excessive or self-indulgent worry, so the relation is clear but figurative.

Etymology

Handwringing comes from the old, literal action of people twisting their hands when they are very worried and is made of hand and wring, with wring the same idea as when you wring a wet towel to 'squeeze' it. So, as a noun, handwringing means an excessive, showy kind of worrying that does not lead to action.