clean hands

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

He continued that the family "cannot be said to come to the court with clean hands", citing a "bombardment" of requests to enter Ms Higson's property.

From BBC • Nov. 25, 2025

And one of the fundamental rules of equity, as Sotomayor explains, is that you have to seek it with clean hands.

From Slate • Jun. 24, 2025

Officials say it can be used only to clean hands if it’s completely unheated.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2025

The rough hands of a slave, the clean hands of a prince, the wrinkled hands of an old man who has seen so much.

From Salon • Dec. 23, 2023

Dad was a perpetual optimist, confident that brains someday would triumph over inanimate steel; bolstered in the belief that he entered the fray with clean hands and a pure heart.

From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey