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English (UK)
Cambridge Dictionary Online

Meaning of handful in English

handful
noun
uk
/ˈhænd.fʊl/ us
/ˈhænd.fʊl/

handful noun (AMOUNT)

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[ C ]
an amount of something that can be held in one hand:
He pulled out a handful of coins from his pocket.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Measurements of volume: informal
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handful noun (A FEW)

B2 [ S ]
a small number of people or things:
She invited all her friends to her party, but only a handful of them turned up.
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SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Words meaning small pieces and amounts
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handful noun (DIFFICULT PERSON)

[ S ]
a person, often a child, who is difficult to control:
Her older son is fine but the little one is a bit of a handful.
SMART Vocabulary: related words and phrases
Difficult things and people
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(Definition of handful from the Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary & Thesaurus © Cambridge University Press)

handful | American Dictionary

handful
noun
us
/ˈhænd·fʊl/

handful noun (VERY FEW)

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[ C usually sing ]
a very few, esp. when compared to a larger group:
A handful of professional athletes make millions, but most do not do so well.

handful noun (SMALL AMOUNT)

[ C ]
an amount of something that can be held in one hand:
He scooped up a handful of soil and examined it carefully.

handful noun (PROBLEM)

[ C usually sing ] infml
a person or thing that is difficult to control or manage:
Sam was an easygoing baby, but Rory is a real handful.
(Definition of handful from the Cambridge Academic Content Dictionary © Cambridge University Press)

Examples of handful

handful
Recorded popular music also drives home the fact that songs don't have just ' a' hook - they have several, or a few handfuls, with different roles and degrees of importance.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
Handfuls of grass and earth were clutched in the hands.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
At that stage there are handfuls of people who still cannot meet their debt.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
We have learned to take all that with substantial handfuls of salt.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Such people in any one strike can be numbered virtually in handfuls.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
I remember that we had several handfuls of appeals to deal with at a time.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
There are handfuls of cuttings to this effect to which everyone has access and which no doubt many of us have read.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
They had professional uniformed promotion girls distributing handfuls of tendentious propaganda.
From Europarl Parallel Corpus - English
We need many grains of sand—handfuls of sand—working inside the city centres without hampering restrictions in order to raise the level of economic activity.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
I think that there were only a few handfuls of exceptions in the referendum.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Very often there are only a few handfuls of children, and they have to remain at that school for the rest of their educational days.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
Our northern people cannot live on handfuls of rice and walk about in loin cloths.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
The taximeters on the taxi-cabs were speeding up, the people on the omnibuses were tearing their hair out in handfuls, and everybody was getting the wind up.
From the
Hansard archive
Example from the Hansard archive. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0
None is dominated by a famous-name composer, and few address music that will be familiar to any but a handful of scholars.
From the Cambridge English Corpus
A particularly distinct custom associated with "pepernoten" is throwing them in handfuls through the room so children can look for them.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
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These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
What is the pronunciation of handful?
 

Translations of handful

in Chinese (Traditional)
數量, 一把（之量）, 少量…
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in Chinese (Simplified)
数量, 一把（之量）, 少量…
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in Spanish
puñado, un pequeño número, un revoltoso…
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in Portuguese
punhado, um punhado, meia dúzia…
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in more languages
in Marathi
in Japanese
in Turkish
in French
in Catalan
in Dutch
in Tamil
in Hindi
in Gujarati
in Danish
in Swedish
in Malay
in German
in Norwegian
in Urdu
in Ukrainian
in Telugu
in Bengali
in Czech
in Indonesian
in Thai
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in Italian
थोडेसे - कमी संख्येचे लोक किंवा वस्तू…
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一握りの量, 手一杯（ていっぱい）, 少数（しょうすう）…
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el/avuç dolusu, avuç (dolusu), bir avuç…
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poignée [feminine], personne [feminine] difficile, poignée…
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grapat…
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handvol, handjevol, handenbinder…
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ஒரு சிறிய எண்ணிக்கையிலான மக்கள் அல்லது விஷயங்கள்…
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चंद / थोड़ी संख्या में…
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મુઠ્ઠીભર, નાની સંખ્યામાં, નજીવી સંખ્યા…
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håndfuld, få, noget af en håndfuld…
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näve, handfull, person som ger ngn fullt sjå…
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segenggam, beberapa kerat, tidak terkawal…
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die Handvoll, die Plage…
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håndfull [masculine], umulig person [masculine], håndfull…
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تھوڑے سے, مٹھی بھر…
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пригорща, жменя, жменька…
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కొద్దిమంది…
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মুষ্টিমেয়, অল্প সংখ্যক…
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hrst, hrstka, pěkné kvítko…
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merepotkan, sedikit…
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หนึ่งกำมือ, ปริมาณน้อย, ดื้อ…
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một nắm, một nhúm, người khó chịu…
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garść, garstka, urwanie głowy…
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한 줌…
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manciata, pugno, manipolo…
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