hand back

phrasal verb

handed back; handing back; hands back

: to return (something) by handing it to someone

He handed the letter back (to her) without reading it.

The clerk handed back my credit card.

Examples of hand back in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

China’s growing crackdown on Hong Kong further strained relations, and spurred then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson to offer citizenship for up to 3 million residents of Hong Kong, a former colony that Britain handed back to China in 1997. —Christian Edwards, CNN Money, 27 Jan. 2026

Over the past ten years, McDonald’s (MCD) stock has handed back an impressive $79 Bil to its shareholders through direct cash returns via dividends and buybacks. —Trefis Team, Forbes.com, 23 Jan. 2026

So any time ‘freed’ by automation is far more likely to be filled with new tasks than handed back to workers. —Orianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 20 Jan. 2026

Its claims to Taiwan rest both on Chinese dynastic-era rule and legal arrangements at the end of World War II when Japan handed back Taiwan, then a colony, to China. —Andy Browne, semafor.com, 15 Jan. 2026

Rhymes for hand back

• aback
• anzac
• attack
• backpack
• backtrack
• bareback
• blackjack
• brownback
• buyback
• callback
• cognac
• comeback