out of hand

Speech parts

1. out of hand - Adjective

2. out of hand - Adverb

3. out of hand - Phrase

Meaning

out of control

Source: WordNet

Synonyms

difficult immediately wild noisy disruptive runaway refractory uncontrollable unruly intractable disorderly defiant disobedient recalcitrant boisterous
Show all synonyms

Antonyms

eventually disciplined compliant amenable accommodating docile
Show all antonyms

Related terms

eat out of someone's hand out of one's hands

Examples

It is not crazy to think that powerful people do some pretty horrible things. And maybe they get out of hand. Maybe it just gets away from them. It snowballs. Janeane Garofalo

We wonder why we have got the Freemen or the militants. We wonder why we have got unrest in this country. It is because our government, in fact, has got out of hand and out of line, with the Endangered Species Act. Don Young

My feeling about executive bonuses is that any candidate for a chief executive job who even raises the issue of bonuses should be dismissed out of hand. Henry Mintzberg

The importance that our society attaches to sport is incredible. After all, is football a game or a religion? The people of this country have allowed sports to get completely out of hand. Howard Cosell

One nuclear war is going to be the last nuclear - the last war, frankly, if it really gets out of hand. And I just don't think we ought to be prepared to accept that sort of thing. Lawrence Eagleburger

The bird once out of hand is hard to recover. Danish Proverb

Words in the phrase

out of hand

Close letter words and terms

out of game Out of Gas out of gear out of harm's way out of harmony out of heart