How to Use underhanded in a Sentence

underhanded

adjective
  • The underhanded plan The way this plan was launched speaks volumes.
    — Orlando Sentinel Editorial Board, The Orlando Sentinel, 14 Mar. 2026
  • What your boyfriend did was inconsiderate and underhanded and showed disregard for your feelings.
    — Jeanne Phillips, Mercury News, 9 Jan. 2026
  • Amidst fierce competition and underhanded tactics from rivals, the film celebrates their resilience and the strength of their community.
    — Zac Ntim, Deadline, 6 Oct. 2025
  • The exchange also constituted a bit of underhanded score-settling, as Franklin acknowledged.
    — Stacy Schiff, The Atlantic, 8 Oct. 2025
  • In California, the law prevents incumbents from pulling off the kind of underhanded stunt that Garcia and Daines managed.
    — Los Angeles Times, 18 Mar. 2026
  • Why is it being framed like Keiarna never said anything or is being underhanded, and why is Keiarna only pointing this out in a confessional?
    — Shamira Ibrahim, Vulture, 10 Nov. 2025
  • Instead of helping the contestant, the complaint alleges that show producers convinced the couple not to quit the show and assured them there was nothing underhanded occurring with their depiction.
    — Mekishana Pierre, Entertainment Weekly, 5 Mar. 2026
  • The Knicks won Game 3 Friday night, and are on the verge of sweeping their rivals, which serves Philadelphia right for trying to pull off such an underhanded scheme.
    — Leonard Greene, New York Daily News, 9 May 2026
  • Bad decisions and underhanded betrayals ensue.
    — Brian Truitt, USA Today, 23 Dec. 2025
  • The offense never got on track, and the disappointment was only intensified when it was discovered that Houston used underhanded tactics to gain an advantage on opponents that season.
    — Doug Padilla, Oc Register, 17 Aug. 2025
  • Both players entertained the crowd, hitting occasional underhanded serves and between-the-legs winners, and Tiafoe sported a Charlotte Hornets jersey for the match.
    — Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 15 Oct. 2025
  • Years of unrelenting pressure—smear campaigns, interrogations, arrests, a violent raid, and underhanded attempts at control—had succeeded in breaking it.
    — Bozorgmehr Sharafedin, The Atlantic, 1 June 2026
  • And truth be told, Brosmer responded by throwing one of the worst interceptions in Vikings history, a panicked, underhanded heave that had about three Seahawks defenders lining up for an interception.
    — John Shipley, Twin Cities, 1 Dec. 2025
  • Norma is contrasted by her narcissistic, foulmouthed, crash-and-burn sister, Wanda, who has chosen Norma’s house as a rendezvous point with an old boyfriend … against Norma’s wishes, and for very underhanded reasons.
    — Duante Beddingfield, Freep.com, 24 Oct. 2025
  • An underhanded minority are adapting to laxer journal policies by using artificial intelligence to accelerate their research pipeline.
    — Thomas Morgan, The Conversation, 12 Sep. 2025
  • Another state legislative proposal to allow public districts to hire school chaplains, which critics view as an underhanded attempt at evangelizing to students, has only succeeded in Texas and Florida.
    — Liam Adams, Nashville Tennessean, 2 Sep. 2025
  • The Celtics weren’t able to create any distance from their pesky hosts until Brown hit a pair of 3-pointers late in the half — one off a nifty underhanded pass from Neemias Queta, the other set up by a Scheierman offensive rebound.
    — Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 21 Mar. 2026
  • In May 1961, Welch alleged that a CBS reporter had used underhanded tactics to interview him against his wishes, resulting in footage that made the Birch leader look cagey and defensive.
    — Time, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Two days after Judson Independent School District trustees fired him, former Superintendent Milton Fields shot back, claiming board President Monica Ryan led an underhanded campaign to oust him.
    — Sophia Veneziano, San Antonio Express-News, 24 Apr. 2026

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'underhanded.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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