hand-me-down

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.

"Conversely, when brides were familiar with the story of the dress, like with a hand-me-down, they were far more positive about it and treated it more like treasure than a cursed item."

From BBC • Feb. 28, 2026

The chancellor could also offer partial payments, potentially getting smaller for each additional child to reflect that these children might use the same buggy as their siblings or hand-me-down clothes.

From BBC • Nov. 14, 2025

I grew up wearing my older brother’s and older sister’s hand-me-down clothes.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 14, 2025

The warehouse has also seen fewer of the startups that used to buy a lot of the city’s hand-me-down office furniture, perhaps due to the current economic uncertainty.

From Seattle Times • May 19, 2024

Everything was custom engineered—“no hand-me-down magnets, no industrial discards . . . ‘no patch work,’ ” as the Joliots’ emissary Maurice Nahmias had derided the old standards.

From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik