handwave
noun, verb
handwave is spelled H-A-N-D-W-A-V-E: 8 letters. As a noun, handwave means “The wave of a hand” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The plural of handwave is handwaves.
How many letters and syllables are in handwave?
| Letters | 8: H-A-N-D-W-A-V-E |
|---|---|
| In writing | too rare for the frequency list |
| Wrong spellings searched | none measured in search |
Sources: letters and syllables from the English Wiktionary's hyphenation or pronunciation; written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).
Forms of handwave
- handwaves plural, present, singular, he/she/it
- hand-wave
- handwaving participle, present
- handwaved participle, past
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
What does handwave mean?
The meanings the English Wiktionary records, quoted as written there (source below).
noun
- 1
The wave of a hand.
- 2
A glib statement or explanation that glosses over important details.
verb
- 1
To explain something superficially, skipping over important details, perhaps appealing to intuition instead.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).
Where does handwave come from?
From hand + wave.
Source: English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org (Wiktextract).