hand-me-down
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: 5.26 in modern English
20
Scrabble Score
10
Letters
4
Syllables
8
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
An item that is passed along for someone else to use.
noun
A piece of clothing or other item which has been outgrown by an older sibling and passed down to a younger one.
adj
Used or second-hand, passed along by its prior user.
verb
To pass along to someone else.
Example Sentences
- "Well, I'm willing, I'm able, I'm practically much alive / Well, I'm six-feet-tall, I ain't no hand-me-down"
- "But these routes have always had hand-me-downs that aren't really designed for the job."
- "And what costume shall the poor girl wear / To all tomorrow's parties? / A hand-me-down dress from who knows where"
- "1983, 19th of March, Presidential Radio Address by Ronald Reagan I don't want America's recovery and security to be sacrificed on an altar of discredited hand-me-down theories. And if you'll help us, they won't be."
- "The old Pacers have vanished, replaced by a mix of hand-me-down fleets."
- "“See into life, don’t just look at it” is her [Anne Baxter’s] creditable credo, hand-me-downed from her famous architect grandfather, the late Frank Lloyd Wright."
Etymology
Inflected Forms
hand-me-downs (plural)
hand-me-on (alternative, dated)
hand-me-downs (present, singular)
hand-me-downing (participle, present)
hand-me-downed (participle, past)
hand-me-downed (past)