Dictionary Definition
handicap
Noun
1 the condition of being unable to perform as a
consequence of physical or mental unfitness; "reading disability";
"hearing impairment" [syn: disability, disablement, impairment]
2 advantage given to a competitor to equalize
chances of winning
3 something immaterial that interferes with or
delays action or progress [syn: hindrance, deterrent, impediment, balk, baulk, check]
Verb
2 attempt to forecast the winner (especially in a
horse race) and assign odds for or against a contestant
3 put at a disadvantage; "The brace I have to
wear is hindering my movements" [syn: hinder, hamper] [also: handicapping, handicapped]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Etymology
From hand in cap, in reference to holding the game stakes in a cap.Noun
- An allowance of a
certain amount of time or
distance in starting,
granted in a race to the
competitor possessing
inferior advantages; or an additional
weight or other hindrance imposed upon the one
possessing superior
advantages, in order to equalize, as much as possible,
the chances of success.
- The older boy won, even with a handicap of five meters.
- A handicap in chess often involves removal of the queen's rook.
- The older boy won, even with a handicap of five meters.
- Hence the disadvantage itself, in particular physical or mental disadvantages of people.
- A race, for horses or men, or any contest of agility, strength, or skill, in which there is an allowance of time, distance, weight, or other advantage, to equalize the chances of the competitors.
- An old game at cards. - Pepys
Derived terms
Translations
An allowance granted in a race to the competitor
- German: Vorsprung
disadvantage, in particular physical or mental
disadvantages of people
- German: Behinderung
- Latin: impedimentum
Verb
- To encumber with a handicap in any contest
- In the context of "transitive|by extension": to place at
disadvantage
- The candidate was heavily handicapped.
- to estimate betting odds.
Pronunciation
- /hɑ̃.di.kap/
- SAMPA: /hA~.di.kap/
Noun
fr-noun m- handicap
Extensive Definition
Handicapped or handicap may refer to:
- Disability, a human condition
- Handicapping,
various methods of leveling a sport or game
- Golf handicap, a sport-specific handicapping method
- Handicap principle, an evolutionary theory
- Self-handicapping, a psychological method of finding something to blame for failure besides one's own inability
handicap in German: Handicap
handicap in French: Handicap
handicap in Ido: Handikapo
handicap in Italian: Handicap
handicap in Hebrew: נכות
handicap in Dutch: Handicap
handicap in Japanese: ハンデキャップ
handicap in Norwegian: Handicap
handicap in Slovak: Hendikep
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Derby,
Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, abnormality, acute disease,
affection, affliction, ailment, allergic disease,
allergy, allowance, atrophy, bacterial disease,
bale, bar, barrier, bear hard upon, birth
defect, blight, block, bulge, burden, burdening, burthen, cardiovascular disease,
cargo, charge, charging, chase, check, chronic disease,
circulatory disease, complaint, complication, condition, congenital defect,
constraint, cramp, cripple, cross, cumber, cumbrance, curb, damage, deadweight, deadwood, defect, deficiency disease,
deformity,
degenerative disease, detriment, difficulty, disability, disable, disadvantage, disease, disorder, distemper, drag, drawback, edge, embarrass, embarrassment, encumber, encumbrance, endemic, endemic disease,
endocrine disease, enmesh, ensnarl, entangle, entoil, entrammel, entrap, entwine, epidemic disease,
fetter, flat race,
freight, functional
disease, fungus disease, gastrointestinal disease, genetic disease,
hamper, hamstring, handicap race,
harm, harness race, head
start, hereditary disease, hinder, hindrance, hobble, horse race, hurdle race,
hurt, iatrogenic disease,
illness, impairment, impede, impediment, impedimenta, imposition, inconvenience, incubus, incumbency, indisposition, infectious
disease, infirmity,
injury, involve, lade, lading, lame, liability, lime, limit, limitation, load, loading, loss, loss of ground, lumber, malady, malaise, millstone, mischief, morbidity, morbus, muscular disease,
net, neurological disease,
nutritional disease, obstacle, occupational disease,
odds, onus, oppress, oppression, organic disease,
overburden, overhand, overload, overtax, overtaxing, overweight, overweighting, pack, pandemic disease,
pathological condition, pathology, penalize, penalty, plant disease, plate
race, prejudice, press
down, press hard upon, pressure, protozoan disease,
psychosomatic disease, punish, purse race, quarter-horse
race, respiratory disease, rest hard upon, restrain, restraint, restrict, restriction, rockiness, saddle, saddle with, saddling, secondary disease,
seediness, shackle, sickishness, sickness, signs, snarl, stake, stake race, start, steeplechase, step
backward, stumbling block, superincumbency,
surcharge, sweep, sweepstake, sweepstakes, symptomatology, symptomology, symptoms, syndrome, tangle, tax, taxing, the pip, toil, trammel, trotting race, trouble, urogenital disease,
vantage, virus disease,
wasting disease, weigh down, weigh heavy on, weigh on, weigh upon,
weight, white elephant,
worm disease