handwaving

From hand +‎ waving.

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhandweɪvɪŋ/

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handwaving (comparative more handwaving, superlative most handwaving)

1. (not comparable) Waving the hands.
2. Pertaining to empty gesturing, with little substance behind it; vague; not supported by data.

handwaving (countable and uncountable, plural handwavings)

1. (chiefly figuratively) Alternative form of hand waving (“empty gesturing”).
   • 2009 November 3, “Squid Business”, in The Economist:

     McClatchy goes on to try and level a damning critique, which amounts to a lot of handwaving about things we already know.

   • 2017, Torkel Franzén, Inexhaustibility: A Non-Exhaustive Treatment, Cambridge University Press, →ISBN, page 6:

     If one looks today at the logical literature, one finds that there is a great deal of handwaving going on of the same kind as that used by Gödel in his paper. That is, informal arguments are given to show that a formalization of a certain statement is formally provable in a certain theory.

handwaving

1. present participle and gerund of handwave