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hand down
verb
handed down; handing down; hands down
1
: to transmit in succession (as from father to son)
2
: to make official formulation of and express (the opinion of a court)
Examples of hand down in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
The indictment, handed down by a grand jury at the U.S. District Court in Oakland, was filed Jan. 9 and unsealed Friday.
—
Jessica Garrison, Los Angeles Times, 17 Jan. 2025
While a new phone can be expensive, handing down your old iPhone is a great way to introduce them to technology while also being mindful of your budget.
—
Kurt Knutsson, Cyberguy Report, Fox News, 17 Jan. 2025
And when compared with driving, air travel is hands down the safer way to get from point A to point B.
—
Barbara Peterson, AFAR Media, 17 Jan. 2025
Research has shown that judges who have backgrounds as public defenders tend to hand down less punitive sentences and incarcerate fewer people, a fact that criminal justice reform advocates have been stressing in their praise of Biden's judicial picks.
—
Cooper Burton, ABC News, 16 Jan. 2025
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Word History
First Known Use
1651, in the meaning defined at sense 1
Dictionary Entries Near hand down
Cite this Entry
“Hand down.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hand%20down. Accessed 6 Feb. 2025.
Kids Definition
hand down
verb1
: to pass down from older to younger (as from parent to child)
2
: to form and express a judicial decision
Legal Definition
hand down
transitive verb1
: to deliver (the decision or opinion of an appellate court) to the proper office of an inferior court
2
: to make an official formulation of and announce (the decision of a court)
More from Merriam-Webster on hand down
Thesaurus: All synonyms and antonyms for hand down
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