hand-waving
noun
hand-wav·ing ˈhan(d)-ˌwā-viŋ 
variants or less commonly handwaving or hand waving
1
: movement with the hand or hands made as a signal to another
Over the last decade, the frenzied screaming and hand-waving on exchange trading floors has started to go the way of the horse and buggy.—
Gail Marks Jarvis
Gail Marks Jarvis
The woman and I cobbled together a lingua franca through hand-waving and the bits of Mandarin and Cantonese we both could understand.—Madelyne Xiao
Madelyne Xiao
2
: insubstantial and unsupported or ineffective statements, arguments, actions, etc., especially when intended to distract or mislead
—often used before another noun
In many respects, his essay is the quintessence of the form, a frustrating exercise in bland soul-searching, misdirection, and hand-waving.—Laura Miller
Laura Miller
If this explanation seems a bit like hand waving, it is. Many of the details have not been worked out.—Don Lincoln
Don Lincoln
… we never, ever take concrete steps to solve our problems, no matter how much handwaving we do.—Matthew Dessem
Matthew Dessem
a hand-waving theory/explanation/argument
Examples of hand-waving in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
In 2026, the Bitcoin regulatory landscape across Africa is progressing beyond bans and hand-waving from legislators. —Abubakar Nur Khalil, Forbes.com, 23 Feb. 2026 The obsequiousness, the sneers, the boasting, the vacant generalities, and the hand-waving bespeak fear of departing from the Trumpian orthodoxy of the moment. —Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 29 Jan. 2026 Assuming whatever creature birthed from a spider egg was also a shapeshifter would even allow the show to bring back everyone’s favorite dancing clown in a modern-day context without too much hand-waving. —Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 15 Dec. 2025 There was much innuendo and hand-waving for something that was supposed to change the textbooks. —F.d. Flam, Twin Cities, 6 Aug. 2025 The technology is the most interesting part of the sequel, but there’s both far too much hand-waving and far too little curiosity about the imaginative devices on which the film is centered. —Richard Brody, New Yorker, 26 June 2025 In his op-ed, Bhattacharya engaged in hand-waving about the toll of COVID on children, nearly 1,700 of whom died of COVID, according to the CDC. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2025
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Abubakar Nur Khalil, Forbes.com, 23 Feb. 2026 The obsequiousness, the sneers, the boasting, the vacant generalities, and the hand-waving bespeak fear of departing from the Trumpian orthodoxy of the moment. —Eliot A. Cohen, The Atlantic, 29 Jan. 2026 Assuming whatever creature birthed from a spider egg was also a shapeshifter would even allow the show to bring back everyone’s favorite dancing clown in a modern-day context without too much hand-waving. —Louis Peitzman, Vulture, 15 Dec. 2025 There was much innuendo and hand-waving for something that was supposed to change the textbooks. —F.d. Flam, Twin Cities, 6 Aug. 2025 The technology is the most interesting part of the sequel, but there’s both far too much hand-waving and far too little curiosity about the imaginative devices on which the film is centered. —Richard Brody, New Yorker, 26 June 2025 In his op-ed, Bhattacharya engaged in hand-waving about the toll of COVID on children, nearly 1,700 of whom died of COVID, according to the CDC. —Michael Hiltzik, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hand-waving.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.grautoblog.com/dictionary/hand-waving. Accessed 26 Apr. 2026.
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