English

Adjective

heavyhanded ‎(comparative more heavyhanded, superlative most heavyhanded)

1. Alternative form of heavy-handed
   1. Clumsy
      • 2007, Joel Mwangi, Illegal Dreams, ISBN 1847530443, page 39:

        Fuso also had a thing when holding things -- at times they just fell off and broke, the reason why he prefered using china and glasses at the table and he never held newborn babies....Fuso didn't consider himself clumsy though, heavyhanded was a more acceptable word.

   2. Excessive
      • 2014, Doris Medina, Mad Men 252, ISBN 148882326X:

        Jordan Bartel of the Chicago Tribune named the chapter a timeless and saw a feasible Emmy recommendation for Vincent Kartheiser, however sensed the kitchenette sink allegorism and finishing voiceover was a itty-bitty heavyhanded.

   3. Lacking subtlety
      • 1988 April 15, Richard Wilkinson, “Critical Daze”, in Chicago Reader:

        Its ending is heavyhanded: the main character turns and addresses the audience--and it's made clear he's talking specifically to the black audience only--and tells them to "wake up.

      • 1992, Marta Gibińska & ‎Zygmunt Mazur, Proceedings of the Fifth International Conference: New Trends in English and American Studies (Cracow 1990 April 2-7), page 121:

        It is ironic that the usual criticism regarded as damning Lawrence is precisely that he is heavyhanded, that he labours the point, that he is overinsistent.

   4. Overbearing
      • 1992, Robert Paul Wolff, The Ideal of the University, ISBN 1992, page 54:

        The heavyhanded loyalty oath and affidavit requirements of the NDEA fellowships have received a great deal of publicity, but the real coercive effect of NDEA on graduate education has little to do with such know-nothing excrescences.

   5. Using excessive force
      • Benson Bobrick, Benson Bobrick, Angel in the Whirlwind, ISBN Benson Bobrick:

        The British army, on the other hand, was recruited from the lowest rungs of English society—three British regiments in the American Revolution were composed entirely of reprieved criminals—and its heavyhanded sergeants instantly and severely disciplined insubordinates.