How to Use empty-handed in a Sentence

empty-handed

adjective

• The search turned up empty-handed, but that did not stop them.
  — Carolyn Stein, Chicago Tribune, 22 May 2025
• That doesn’t mean the Dodgers will emerge from the trade deadline empty-handed.
  — Mike Digiovanna, Los Angeles Times, 20 July 2023
• But the Blue Jays have left each of these sweepstakes empty-handed.
  — Dan Perry, Newsweek, 2 Jan. 2025
• But there’s good news for fans who have come up empty-handed.
  — Emily Heil, Washington Post, 11 Mar. 2024
• But the team came away nearly empty-handed in the effort.
  — Tim Newcomb, Popular Mechanics, 29 Aug. 2023
• The Academy Award went to Poor Things, which was up for two of the guild’s awards but went home empty-handed.
  — Tom Tapp, Deadline, 15 Feb. 2025
• While Travis and the team were gunning for their third straight Super Bowl win, the team went home empty-handed.
  — Lauryn Overhultz, Fox News, 12 Feb. 2025
• The group fled empty-handed, but Tess’ wounds were fatal.
  — Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 21 Apr. 2023
• The Oilers deserved some points — maybe as many as four — but came up empty-handed.
  — Daniel Nugent-Bowman, The Athletic, 15 Dec. 2024
• The inning, though, showed fight and a stubborn refusal to slink away empty-handed.
  — Bryce Miller, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 May 2024
• Some went to extreme lengths to ensure they wouldn’t be left empty-handed.
  — Kyle Glaser, Orange County Register, 16 May 2024
• Starmer left the White House empty-handed, but not before singing Trump's praises.
  — Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy, USA TODAY, 1 Mar. 2025
• Killers went home empty-handed on Sunday night, one of the rare times that’s happened this season.
  — Joe Reid, Vulture, 16 Jan. 2024
• Naturally, the first player to hit an ace on the 6th hole will not leave empty-handed.
  — Julio Cesar Valdera Morales, MSNBC Newsweek, 7 July 2025
• The siblings ran off empty-handed and the victim reported the clash to police.
  — Rocco Parascandola, New York Daily News, 1 May 2025
• Like his comic book alter ego, then, Kraven the Hunter was always destined to come home empty-handed in the end.
  — Mark Hughes, Forbes, 15 Dec. 2024
• The dolphins scattered and the men returned empty-handed.
  — Prianka Srinivasan Matthew Abbott, New York Times, 26 Mar. 2025
• Both women come back empty-handed, but not for lack of trying.
  — Jackie Strause, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Apr. 2023
• But the researchers packed up four hours later, empty-handed.
  — Teresa Nowakowski, Smithsonian Magazine, 9 May 2023
• Many of them left empty-handed, according to residents who spoke to The Times.
  — Los Angeles Times, 4 Mar. 2023
• Why would anybody point a gun at poor empty-handed Stephen Plato McRae?
  — Christopher Ketcham, Harper's Magazine, 16 Oct. 2023
• That fellow ended up walking out empty-handed, as did a man who ditched a full cart near the entrance.
  — Paige Williams, The New Yorker, 18 Mar. 2024
• But for a third straight year, Buffalo went home empty-handed.
  — Scott Thompson, Fox News, 3 Feb. 2025
• More than two-thirds go away empty-handed, according to one of cooks working there.
  — NBC News, 18 Jan. 2025
• The movie shockingly left the Golden Globes empty-handed.
  — Kyndall Cunningham, Vox, 3 Mar. 2025
• The police arrived and attempted to chase down the car but returned empty-handed.
  — Katherine Itoh, NBC News, 3 Feb. 2024
• Needing to get home to their two papillons, the couple leave empty-handed.
  — Cathy Alter, Washington Post, 16 Aug. 2023
• Many others have returned empty-handed after crowds grabbed all the food.
  — Anas Baba, NPR, 6 July 2025
• But as for Koala’s cause of death, scientists are coming up empty-handed.
  — Olatunji Osho-Williams, Smithsonian Magazine, 18 Oct. 2024
• Even after winning big, customers have walked away empty-handed when strip mall game rooms refused to pay.
  — Josh Salman, Miami Herald, 11 July 2025