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throw up one's hands
Idioms and Phrases
Indicate or express utter hopelessness. For example, Jim was getting nowhere so he threw up his hands and abandoned the argument . This idiom alludes to a traditional gesture for giving up.Example Sentences
There might be a temptation to throw up one's hands and say all is lost or allow the administration to break norms and laws that have not previously been broken before in this country.
To throw up one’s hands in exasperation at the old familiar eruption of the Irish question is to miss the whole point of this moment – which is, of course, the English question.
It’s easy to throw up one’s hands and loudly proclaim that those who knew but did not act had done the wrong thing.
Not saying we can solve it and, granted, with all the players, it's tempting to throw up one's hands.
It's enough to make an observer throw up one's hands and just eat a donut.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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