hand wringing
Noun
Meaning
The repeated clasping or squeezing of the hands as a symptom of distress.
(figuratively) A feigned exhibition of distress, usually with implied inaction or vacillating in the face of a dilemma or crisis.
hand-wringing (countable and uncountable, plural hand-wringings)
Alternative spelling of hand wringing
Alternative names
hand-wringing
Examples
All our hand-wringing about this plot being un-American and destructive to our democracy is sadly irrelevant — not just to the preposterous Giuliani and the equally preposterous Trump but to the entire Republican Party.
And the FDA recommends that even fish eaten raw should be frozen first, so there is little call for snobby hand-wringing about eating fish in the high desert.
After three years of hand-wringing, white-knuckled, hair-rending anticipation, Brett opened his Catalan-inspired restaurant in our own Noe Valley.
But the relationship between the world’s two largest Jewish communities is growing more and more strained, and, on this milestone anniversary of independence, it is the subject of much hand-wringing over whether and how it can ever be repaired.
Bloom Energy had a good reason to thaw its IPO plans after years of hand-wringing.
America’s birth rate has fallen to a 30-year low, let the hand-wringing and finger-pointing begin.