on the one hand

idiom

variants or on one hand

—used to introduce a statement that is followed by another contrasting statement which is typically introduced with on the other hand

On the one hand, I think the price is fair, but on the other hand, I really can't afford to spend that much money.

On one hand, there is the historical, real person—George Washington the President—but on the other hand, there is the legendary person—George Washington the cherry-tree chopper.

—Anthony Hollingsworth

Examples of on the one hand in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Moving forward, there is a deep need to balance between the competing imperatives of sovereignty and security on the one hand, and openness and interoperability on the other. —Mirek Dušek, TIME, 26 June 2024

Retrenchment cannot resolve this tension between, on the one hand, opposing war and, on the other, defending egalitarianism and resisting imperialism. —Jonathan B. Petkun, Foreign Affairs, 18 June 2024

This means being fair and accurate in reporting, and having a strong wall between news on the one hand and opinion or advocacy on the other. —Washington Examiner - Political News and Conservative Analysis About Congress, the President, and the Federal Government, 11 June 2024

So, on the one hand, the U.S. is demanding that more aid rightfully go back into Gaza. —CBS News, 5 May 2024

The movie’s impulses, toward naturalistic observation on the one hand and folkloric archetype on the other, don’t fight each other. —Justin Chang, The New Yorker, 3 May 2024

The only evidence against defendant was the complainants’ testimony, and the result of the court’s rulings, on the one hand, was to bolster their credibility and diminish defendant’s character before the jury. —James Hibberd, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Apr. 2024

Europe’s green manufacturers face the lure of attractive US subsidies on the one hand and competition from cheap Chinese products on the other. —John Ainger, Fortune Europe, 2 Apr. 2024

First, both narratives targeted a common villain: the Democratic Party, accused of welcoming the pope’s Irish Catholic foot soldiers, on the one hand, and enforcing the Slave Power’s anti-democratic rule on the other. —Jon Grinspan, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Apr. 2024