What does ‘hands tied’ mean in English slang? Not sure how to use this one? Find out in this video!
In this lesson, I’m going to talk about the phrase, “My hands are tied.”
The idiom is that “your hands are tied.” Imagine they are tied with a rope.
If your hands are tied with a rope, then there is nothing you can do.
You are unable or incapable of doing anything.
So, what this idiom means is that you are unable or you are not able to help or intervene in some situation.
It’s as if your hands are tied and you can’t do anything. So that’s what this idiom means.
Of course, it’s not literal; it’s completely figurative.
We can use it in many situations, whether it’s in your personal or family life or in business as well.
So, let’s go ahead and look at some situations:
“I really wish I could help you with the meeting, but my hands are tied. I already have appointments all day long.”
“He said that his hands are tied because they didn’t authorize him to make the move.”
“Sorry, my hands are tied.”
“There’s nothing I can do. My hands are tied by the parents of the students. They simply won’t allow me to run this event.”
All right, there you go, the idiom “my hands are tied,” “your hands are tied” and so on.
So, it means you can’t do anything; you’re unable,
as if your hands are tied and somebody else is preventing you from doing something or maybe company policy and so on.
Well, so can you think of some other examples of how to use this? Have your hands ever been tied?
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