Dictionary
Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.
handwaving en · ADJ
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈhandweɪvɪŋ/ (UK)
Etymology
From hand + waving.
Meanings
-
(not-comparable) Waving the hands.
-
Pertaining to empty gesturing, with little substance behind it; vague; not supported by data.
Forms
Relateds
hand waving · hand-waving
Translations (4)
pl machanie rękoma (waving the hands) · ar تَلْوِيح بِالْيَد (waving the hands) · no gestikulerende (waving the hands) · fi käsiään heiluttava (waving the hands)
handwaving en · NOUN
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈhandweɪvɪŋ/ (UK)
Etymology
From hand + waving.
Meanings
-
(alt-of, alternative, countable, figuratively, uncountable) Alternative form of hand waving (“empty gesturing”).
McClatchy goes on to try and level a damning critique, which amounts to a lot of handwaving about things we already know.
2009 November 3, “Squid Business”, in The Economist:If one looks today at the logical literature, one finds that there is a great deal of handwaving going on of the same kind as that used by Gödel in his paper. That is, informal arguments are given to show that a formalization of a certain statement is formally provable in a certain theory.
2017, Torkel Franzén, Inexhaustibility: A Non-Exhaustive Treatment, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 6:
Forms
handwaving en · VERB
Pronunciation
- (Southern-England) audio
- /ˈhandweɪvɪŋ/ (UK)
Etymology
From hand + waving.
Meanings
-
(form-of, gerund, participle, present) present participle and gerund of handwave
Relateds
handwaver · handwave · handwavy · wave of the hand · handwavium