- 1〔技術がまずい様子〕lack of skill
下手な unskillful,《英》 unskilful; poor,bad ((at))
- 下手な大工
- an unskilled carpenter
- 私は裁縫が下手だ
- I'm poor [not much good] at sewing.
- 彼女は料理が実に下手だ
- She is a terrible [very poor] cook.
- 下手の横好きで絵を描いています
- I like to paint pictures, though I'm not very good at it.
- 下手な鉄砲も数打ちゃ当たる
- Even a poor shot will hit the mark (eventually) if he tries often enough.
- 下手の長談義
- They speak much who cannot speak well./((諺)) Brevity is the soul of wit.
- 下手の[な]考え休むに似たり
- It is a waste of time to think a matter over when one has no good ideas.
- 2〔不用意な様子〕
- 警察が下手をして犯人を取り逃がした
- The police 「made a bad job of it [《口》 botched it up] and let the culprit get away.
- 彼が下手に口出しをしたので台なしになった
- He poked his nose into it, so now everything is messed up.
- 下手すると元金までなくすよ
- You'll lose the principal, too, if you're not careful.
- 下手すると彼に会えないかもしれない
- If we're unlucky, we may miss him.
- 彼に下手なことは言えない
- We must be diplomatic [careful] when we speak to him.
- 3〔程度が劣る様子〕
- 彼の蔵書は下手な図書館よりよっぽど多い
- He has a much larger collection of books than some small libraries.