Idioms

with one hand tied behind your back

with one hand tied behind (one's) back

Easily or effortlessly; encountering no difficulty or resistance (while doing something). I'm a professional musician, so that song is hardly a challenge—I could play it with one hand tied behind my back! Are you kidding? Montgomery is a powerhouse boxer. He'd knock that kid out with both hands tied behind his back!
See also: back, behind, hand, one, tie
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms. © 2024 Farlex, Inc, all rights reserved.

with one hand tied behind your back

1. If you say that you can do something with one hand tied behind your back, you mean that you can do it very easily. This is a gadget so neat and nifty you can operate it with one hand tied behind your back. Thomas could manage the team with one hand tied behind his back.
2. If you have to do something with one hand tied behind your back, you have a disadvantage which makes it difficult for you to succeed. Our officers don't have enough powers. They are being asked to police our streets with one hand tied behind their back. Note: You can also say that you have to do something with your hands tied behind your back or that someone ties your hand behind your back. We'd like to open when our customers want us to and not only when the law says we can. Basically we're competing with both our hands tied behind our back. They insist they would have won if the politicians had not tied their hands behind their backs.
See also: back, behind, hand, one, tie
Collins COBUILD Idioms Dictionary, 3rd ed. © HarperCollins Publishers 2012

with one hand tied behind your ˈback

(informal)
1 unable to use your full powers: The government has one hand tied behind its back in these negotiations.
2 very easily; with little effort: She could run the restaurant with one hand tied behind her back.
See also: back, behind, hand, one, tie
Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017
See also:
References in periodicals archive
Somebody compared our situation to going into a boxing ring with one hand tied behind your back - and you are also told you have to hop around on one foot for the whole round."
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But trying to win big games without a ground game is like playing with one hand tied behind your back and you don't get extra points for it even when you win, which you won't as often when you can't run the ball.
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"If that were to happen today, tomorrow, I know that you would be there to try to save lives under those circumstances but again I cannot escape the irony that you would be doing so with one hand tied behind your back because of the failure of the Seneca Nation to deliver those revenues and the very first dollars that we get from the casino on any given year, the first thing that we devote funding to is public safety because that's our priority."
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It wouldn't have affected the result but when you're still sitting eight points adrift of zero, you could be doing without starting games with one hand tied behind your back.
Take it as red, Gary won't be moaning
GORDON BEHIND BARS Channel 4, 9pm Imagine trying to run a catering business with one hand tied behind your back. Every time you want a knife to cut any ingredients, you have to sign it out.
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"You can't meet clients' needs with one hand tied behind your back," Williamson said, referring to the complex maze of regulations with which CPAs must cope to serve clients in more than one state.
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But given the restrictions, he added, "it's like doing science with one hand tied behind your back."
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* Don't operate with one hand tied behind your back.
CLINICAL PEARLS
When you are battling with one hand tied behind your back - as perhaps Irvine is - it is a different matter.
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Isn't it infuriating how trade experts always get a perfect finish to jobs they tackle, but when you have a go the result looks like you've done it blindfold with one hand tied behind your back?
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Relying just on monetary policy to keep the economy on track is like trying to stay afloat in a storm with one hand tied behind your back."
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