bare-handed
adverb or adjective
bare-hand·ed
ˈber-ˈhan-dəd 
1
: without gloves
2
: without tools or weapons
fight an animal bare-handed
Examples of bare-handed in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
According to the Vintage Base Ball Association, most players were in the field bare-handed, and gloves and mitts didn’t become common until the mid-1880s.
—
Myrna Petlicki, Chicago Tribune, 22 July 2025
The teams will play a 9-inning bare-handed game, following historic rules.
—Staff Reports, Hartford Courant, 9 July 2025
Brooks Baldwin followed with a chopper up the middle, with Witt ranging far to his left across second base to snag it before flipping to second baseman Michael Massey, who caught it bare-handed for a force out.
—Jesse Newell, Kansas City Star, 8 May 2025
Millions of people of all ages bend to this labor, bare-handed, bare-chested, without masks.
—Sallie Tisdale, Harper's Magazine, 2 Dec. 2024
Shelton ran to the plate on Cade Kurland's chopper toward third but Sprague-Lott made a bare-handed snag and fired home, where Hudson White tagged Shelton out.
—Tom Murphy, arkansasonline.com, 27 Apr. 2024
One of them handed a disposable hand-warmer to a chilled reporter, who was taking bare-handed notes.
—Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press, 31 Jan. 2024
His bare-handed putout in UO’s win over Vanderbilt in the NCAA regional round was among his highlight reel plays.
—oregonlive, 21 June 2023
The prime minister is a master storyteller, always casting himself as a bare-handed hero fighting a mighty monster: Obama, Iran, the New Israel Fund (a progressive NGO), or his favorite antagonist, the media.
—Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2019
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Myrna Petlicki, Chicago Tribune, 22 July 2025
The teams will play a 9-inning bare-handed game, following historic rules.
—Staff Reports, Hartford Courant, 9 July 2025
Brooks Baldwin followed with a chopper up the middle, with Witt ranging far to his left across second base to snag it before flipping to second baseman Michael Massey, who caught it bare-handed for a force out.
—Jesse Newell, Kansas City Star, 8 May 2025
Millions of people of all ages bend to this labor, bare-handed, bare-chested, without masks.
—Sallie Tisdale, Harper's Magazine, 2 Dec. 2024
Shelton ran to the plate on Cade Kurland's chopper toward third but Sprague-Lott made a bare-handed snag and fired home, where Hudson White tagged Shelton out.
—Tom Murphy, arkansasonline.com, 27 Apr. 2024
One of them handed a disposable hand-warmer to a chilled reporter, who was taking bare-handed notes.
—Bill Laytner, Detroit Free Press, 31 Jan. 2024
His bare-handed putout in UO’s win over Vanderbilt in the NCAA regional round was among his highlight reel plays.
—oregonlive, 21 June 2023
The prime minister is a master storyteller, always casting himself as a bare-handed hero fighting a mighty monster: Obama, Iran, the New Israel Fund (a progressive NGO), or his favorite antagonist, the media.
—Aluf Benn, Foreign Affairs, 6 Feb. 2019
Cite this Entry
“Bare-handed.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bare-handed. Accessed 15 Sep. 2025.
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