as in worry
disapproving
worried talk or behavior
There has been a lot of silly hand-wringing over the latest hike in interest rates.
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Recent Examples of hand-wringing
While workers are hand-wringing at the prospect of an algorithm taking their job, bosses are reassuring workers that AI is just like any other technological revolution.
—
Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2025
This has caused the usual hand-wringing about competitive imbalance and the inherent plight of small-market teams.
—Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2025
The annual hand-wringing around whether New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone should be fired is already under way, but that won’t be decided for weeks as the club’s management takes a breath and grieves the club’s latest playoff exit.
—Barry M. Bloom, Sportico.com, 12 Oct. 2025
Once more, violent video games will be summoned for a brief moment of soul-searching and hand-wringing by political leaders representing constituents desperate to find a simple solution to our nation’s complex troubles.
—Time, 8 Oct. 2025
Leavy catalogs this wistfulness not in the spirit of hand-wringing, but more as an earnest problem solver.
—Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2025
On Hacks, the end of Deborah’s and Ava’s late night dreams made for dramatic reckoning, but our heroes eschewed hand-wringing.
—Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 23 Sep. 2025
Despite industry-wide hand-wringing over the rise of streaming, watching a movie at home and seeing a movie in the theater are not mutually exclusive experiences.
—Vulture, 18 Sep. 2025
The current round of liberal hand-wringing about how conservatives have become far better at driving the political conversation stems in large part from Kirk.
—David Weigel, semafor.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Emma Burleigh, Fortune, 23 Oct. 2025
This has caused the usual hand-wringing about competitive imbalance and the inherent plight of small-market teams.
—Louisa Thomas, New Yorker, 18 Oct. 2025
The annual hand-wringing around whether New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone should be fired is already under way, but that won’t be decided for weeks as the club’s management takes a breath and grieves the club’s latest playoff exit.
—Barry M. Bloom, Sportico.com, 12 Oct. 2025
Once more, violent video games will be summoned for a brief moment of soul-searching and hand-wringing by political leaders representing constituents desperate to find a simple solution to our nation’s complex troubles.
—Time, 8 Oct. 2025
Leavy catalogs this wistfulness not in the spirit of hand-wringing, but more as an earnest problem solver.
—Mark Leibovich, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2025
On Hacks, the end of Deborah’s and Ava’s late night dreams made for dramatic reckoning, but our heroes eschewed hand-wringing.
—Brittany Allen, Literary Hub, 23 Sep. 2025
Despite industry-wide hand-wringing over the rise of streaming, watching a movie at home and seeing a movie in the theater are not mutually exclusive experiences.
—Vulture, 18 Sep. 2025
The current round of liberal hand-wringing about how conservatives have become far better at driving the political conversation stems in large part from Kirk.
—David Weigel, semafor.com, 10 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for hand-wringing
Noun
-
Shanahan, the head coach in Washington from 2010 to 2013, once grilled Paulsen on offensive tackle protections out of worry the tight end might have to play emergency tackle in a preseason game.—
Jourdan Rodrigue,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
-
Those worries resulted in a European bank stock selloff last week, although the sector quickly rebounded.—
Tasmin Lockwood,
CNBC,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Takaichi was expected to raise Japan’s security concerns about Beijing’s military build-up to Trump during his visit.—
Miranda Jeyaretnam,
Time,
28 Oct. 2025
-
Fears of climate change are decreasing in the United States, China and many Western countries relative to other concerns, according to a new survey.—
Matthew Tostevin,
MSNBC Newsweek,
28 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
That driving tension and anxiety are largely thanks to the team of artisans, which included composer Volker Bertelmann, editor Kirk Baxter and sound designer Paul Ottosson, who worked closely behind the scenes on their respective crafts to bring it together.—
Jazz Tangcay,
Variety,
25 Oct. 2025
-
That sense of anxiety is present throughout the book, most vividly in a wide shot of a group of cheerleaders rehearsing in a gym.—
Rachel Monroe,
New Yorker,
25 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The panic began when a pilot reportedly heard knocking on the cockpit door and was unable to contact his crew.—
Angel Saunders,
PEOPLE,
22 Oct. 2025
-
None of the panic, none of the prophetism.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
21 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Days full of anguish Thousands of miles away from the ICE detention facility in Michigan, Aurelquis Gómez visits her nephew Noah often.—
Zoe Sottile,
CNN Money,
25 Oct. 2025
-
Director Josh Boone will cut to a goofy montage right after a moment when a character is supposed to be mired in anguish.—
Bilge Ebiri,
Vulture,
24 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
The result came after Milei’s party suffered a landslide defeat to the Peronist opposition in a September local vote in the Buenos Aires province, an outcome that sparked a selloff of the peso amid investor fears over the president’s standing with voters.—
Jason Ma,
Fortune,
27 Oct. 2025
-
Harrison expressed deep fears that the White House could take an ax to CPB and public media more broadly.—
David Folkenflik,
NPR,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
That marked a significant cooling of tensions, after a recent volley of tariff threats and fresh export curbs threatened to derail the bilateral relationship.—
Bloomberg,
Fortune,
27 Oct. 2025
-
After the Hamas attacks on Southern Israel on October 7, 2023, tensions rise inside and outside the couple’s home.—
Melanie Goodfellow,
Deadline,
27 Oct. 2025
Noun
-
Chase Briscoe and Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing are already in celebration mode with locks into the final four, while Team Penske and Hendrick Motorsports are in full desperation mode heading into the Xfinity 500 at Martinsville Speedway.—
Jordan Bianchi,
New York Times,
25 Oct. 2025
-
In particular, Van Sant’s direction is at once intimate and explosive, framing the chaos with empathy, allowing the audience to feel the pulse of desperation behind every decision.—
Clayton Davis,
Variety,
25 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Hand-wringing.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/hand-wringing. Accessed 28 Oct. 2025.
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