on the one hand
1
3.4
- idiom
:
por un lado
- She is friendly and helpful; on the one hand, she can be very strict when necessary.
So when you have just incredible censorship on the one hand, then you have incredible propaganda.
- So when you have just incredible censorship on the one hand, then you have incredible propaganda.
- OK, on the one hand, let's write those down.
- So what's the fundamental set of differences between experience on the one hand, and art or science on the other hand?
- Of course, so-called African Americans are a complete spectrum from jet black on the one hand to the Duchess of Sussex on the other.
- And on the one hand, he was right.
- And you know, so, so on the one hand, we've had our girls at home.
- So we have these two needs, attachment on the one hand, authenticity in the other.
- And on the one hand, that might be a good thing.
- So this idea that fasting is so great for us on the one hand might be true.
- And on the one hand, you're trying to be this enlightened person.
- So on the one hand, I'm like, yeah, makes total sense.
- I, I think you could make a distinction between saying on the one hand, it it's, it's never good.
Examples
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On the one hand, the new grand strategy reaffirms the importance of the territorial nation-state.
Academic text (2002) -
So Hobbes talks about rights on the one hand, and laws on the other.
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And on the one hand, he was right.
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And on the one hand, that might be a good thing.
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So on the one hand, I'm like, yeah, makes total sense.
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But on the one hand, we have variables.
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So we have these two needs, attachment on the one hand, authenticity in the other.
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So the British response on the one hand is, oh, OK, they didn't just melt away.
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And on the one hand, you could say it's great that Intel doesn't do that anymore.
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So on the one hand, you know, maybe I was fated to become a scientist.
Synonyms
60
3.2
Used to show one idea that you will compare with another
Antonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase's sense of presenting a single viewpoint can be partly inferred from 'one' (a single) + 'hand' used metaphorically as 'side' or 'viewpoint', and 'on' marking that perspective. However, it is a conventionalized discourse marker whose fixed phrasing and idiomatic use in contrastive pairs (on the one hand ... on the other hand) means B1 learners may not fully predict its register and function from the constituents alone.
Etymology
On the one hand comes from the simple image of holding one idea in your left hand and a different idea in your right. One hand shows 'this' and the other shows 'that', so the phrase is used to say 'one side' of a choice or comparison.