Synonyms of high-handed

high-handed

adjective

ˈhī-ˈhan-dəd 

1

as in arrogant

having a feeling of superiority that shows itself in an overbearing attitude

the manager displayed a high-handed demeanor that increasingly demoralized the members of his staff

Synonyms & Similar Words

• arrogant
• cavalier
• superior
• supercilious
• domineering
• high-and-mighty
• bumptious
• haughty
• uppity
• important
• sniffy
• pretentious
• assumptive
• pompous
• dominant
• presumptuous
• imperious
• masterful
• uppish
• smug
• huffy
• authoritarian
• peremptory
• chesty
• high-hat
• patronizing
• dominating
• overweening
• self-assertive
• lordly
• presuming
• highfalutin
• condescending
• proud
• huffish
• impudent
• stiff-necked
• bossy
• lofty
• self-asserting
• toplofty
• snobbish
• magisterial
• disdainful
• pontifical
• snooty
• boastful
• snobby
• saucy
• bombastic
• cocky
• vainglorious
• conceited
• egocentric
• impertinent
• hubristic
• vain
• swaggering
• narcissistic
• egotistic
• blustery
• egoistic
• complacent
• uninhibited
• blusterous
• pontificating
• self-centered
• prideful
• stuck-up
• immodest
• self-satisfied
• self-complacent
• self-conceited
• brash
• braggy
• braggart
• bragging
• extroverted
• unreserved
• self-promoting
• self-flattering
• self-pleased
• self-affected
• self-loving
• self-applauding
• orgulous
• forward

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• humble
• modest
• timid
• unpretentious
• lowly
• subdued
• bashful
• sheepish
• diffident
• passive
• shy
• introverted
• deferential
• demure
• shrinking
• mousy
• meek
• acquiescent
• submissive
• unassuming
• unobtrusive
• unassertive
• compliant
• unarrogant
• unaggressive
• yielding
• quiet
• self-critical
• cringing
• self-doubting
• reserved
• overmodest
• retiring
• cowering

2

as in arbitrary

having or showing a tendency to force one's will on others without any regard to fairness or necessity

that country club tends to be rather high-handed about whom they let in and whom they shut out

Synonyms & Similar Words

• arbitrary
• arrogant
• authoritarian
• unfair
• unreasonable
• dictatorial
• inconsistent
• imperious
• willful
• domineering
• dominant
• peremptory
• unjust
• haughty
• commanding
• autocratic
• overbearing
• totalitarian
• tyrannical
• despotic
• presumptuous
• capricious
• erratic
• partisan
• demanding
• unequal
• whimsical
• unscrupulous
• inequitable
• mercurial
• unprincipled
• imperative
• biased
• masterful
• unrealistic
• unethical
• tyrannous
• unconscionable
• changeable
• lordly
• prejudiced

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• equitable
• disinterested
• impartial
• fair
• dispassionate
• equal
• reasonable
• balanced
• evenhanded
• objective
• rational
• just
• nonpartisan
• understanding
• moral
• unbiased
• unprejudiced
• honorable
• ethical
• principled
• irreproachable
• unimpeachable
• law-abiding

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of high-handed

His populist policies won strong support among poorer voters, particularly in the rural north and northeast, but his popularity and sometimes high-handed style created deep fractures between his base and the country’s urban elites, royalists and the military. — ABC News, 3 June 2026

Her work is very philosophical without feeling high-handed. — Hannah Jocelyn, New Yorker, 18 Feb. 2026

But his high-handed, arbitrary seizure of power may have permanently scarred the system of careful checks and balances meant to keep government at all levels accountable to the people. — Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 10 Aug. 2025