hand down

verb

handed down; handing down; hands down

transitive verb

1

: to transmit in succession (as from father to son)

2

: to make official formulation of and express (the opinion of a court)

Examples of hand down in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rogers was handed down a death sentence for the 1995 murder of 34-year-old Tina Marie Cribbs, a mother-of-two who was found dead in a Tampa motel room, per the outlets. —Nicole Acosta, People.com, 16 May 2025

What To Know South Carolina's highest court on Wednesday handed down its ruling in the case Planned Parenthood v. South Carolina, which dealt with the question of when a fetal heartbeat begins. —Andrew Stanton, MSNBC Newsweek, 14 May 2025

Pete Rose, one of baseball’s greatest baseball players who was banned from the sport for life in 1989, will finally be eligible for the Baseball Hall of Fame after a ruling handed down Tuesday by the commissioner of Major League Baseball. —Patrick Hipes, Deadline, 13 May 2025

Michael Boatwright, Dedrick Williams and Trayvon Newsome were each handed down two life sentences in April for gunning down XXXTentacion during a 2018 heist in Broward County. —Grethel Aguila, Miami Herald, 12 May 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1651, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for hand down

• adown
• blowdown
• breakdown
• countdown
• crackdown
• crosstown
• downtown
• drawdown
• dropdown
• facedown
• godown
• hometown

Kids Definition

hand down

verb

1

: to pass down from older to younger (as from parent to child)

2

: to form and express a judicial decision

Legal Definition

hand down

transitive verb

1

: to deliver (the decision or opinion of an appellate court) to the proper office of an inferior court

2

: to make an official formulation of and announce (the decision of a court)