Crossword Dictionary
Heavy-handed
Heavy-handed is an idiom that is also a compound word. We will examine the meaning of the common idiom heavy-handed, where it came from, and some examples of its idiomatic usage in sentences.
Heavy-handed means overbearing, harsh, excessive, and forceful. Heavy-handed also means clumsy, inept, awkward, or tactless. Something that is heavy-handed is accomplished without finesse. The idiom heavy-handed is a hyphenated compound word. A compound word is a word derived from two or more separate words used together to create another word. Compound words are new words that have a different meaning than the definitions of the original words. The idiom heavy-handed came into use in the 1600s to mean weary; this definition is no longer used. The term heavy-handed reemerged in the 1870s to mean overbearing or excessive. Though the term is sometimes seen as an open compound word, or a word without a hyphen, the Oxford English Dictionary spells the term with a hyphen.