Dictionary

hand wringing en · NOUN

Meanings

1. (countable, uncountable) The repeated clasping or squeezing of the hands as a symptom of distress.
   • Whisperings filled the corridors with unearthly sounds — the hand-wringing and breast-beating of the elder sisters — the sighs and sobs of the younger. 1862, Anna Maria Hall, chapter XIII, in Can Wrong Be Right?:
2. (countable, figuratively, uncountable) A feigned exhibition of distress, usually with implied inaction or vacillating in the face of a dilemma or crisis.
   • On the one hand, there is the danger of ineffectual and often counterproductive conservative handwringing over the crisis. 2001, Thomas W. Smith, Revaluing Ethics: Aristotle's Dialectical Pedagogy, page 1:
   • And Andrew Marantz reminisced about Tucker Carlson’s wondrous reign at Fox News: “And who could forget the ‘Tucker Carlson Originals’ special ‘The End of Men,’ […]? That special also featured hand-wringing about ‘soy boys,’ paeans to raw-egg slonkers and homoerotic montages, apparently filmed on Alex Jones’s bocce court, […].” 2023 May 4, Frank Bruni, “Republicans Are Running Wild in My State”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 25 Aug 2023:
   • As noted, the confusion and hand wringing about who should do what mostly flows from a failure to clearly think through what an epidemic is and what will be demanded in response. 2003, Daniel K. Akaka, Fema's Role in Managing Bioterrorist Attacks and The Impact of Public Health Concerns on Bioterrorism Preparedness, page 69:
   • The hand-wringing hypocrisy and the pant-wetting that we are seeing over someone criticising the police correctly is amazing. 2023 November 9, Daniel Boffey, quoting Ian Paisley Jr, “Braverman clarifies Northern Ireland comments amid angry criticism”, in The Guardian, →ISSN, archived from the original on 18 Jan 2025:

Forms

Relateds

handwringingly