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throw up one's hands



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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.
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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

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.

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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.

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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.

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Not saying we can solve it and, granted, with all the players, it's tempting to throw up one's hands.

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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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