ham-fisted

adj
/ˈhæmˌfɪstɪd/US

Etymology

From ham (“thigh and buttock of an animal slaughtered for meat”) + fisted (adjective), probably referring to someone being clumsy as if they have hams at the end of their arms instead of hands.

Definitions

  1. Lacking skill in physical movement with the hands

    Lacking skill in physical movement with the hands; clumsy.

  2. Lacking skill in general

    Lacking skill in general; incompetent.

    • [Stephen] Harper has a few weeks' grace, during which he and his ham-fisted finance minister, Jim Flaherty, can ponder the error of their ways.
    • What an utter farce. Just like DfT [the Department for Transport]'s ham-fisted, blundering ticket office closure programme.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for ham-fisted. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA