# wash your hands of it

idiom · CEFR C1

Source: https://englishreference.com/idiom/wash-your-hands-of-it
Updated: 2026-07-29

## Meaning

To publicly refuse any further responsibility for something or someone.

## Examples

- After the argument, she washed her hands of the whole project.
- The manager approved the plan, then washed his hands of it the moment it went wrong.
- The board signed off on every cut, then washed its hands of the fallout, insisting the layoffs had been an operational matter that had nothing to do with them.

## Origin

The phrase comes from the trial of Jesus. In Matthew 27:24, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, unable to calm the crowd demanding a crucifixion he does not believe is just, "took water, and washed his hands before the multitude, saying, I am innocent of the blood of this just person." The gesture is a performance of non-responsibility. Pilate holds the power to stop what is about to happen, yet he stages a ritual to declare the outcome none of his doing — a public disowning of a decision he is in fact allowing. That is precisely the flavour English kept. To wash your hands of something is to renounce responsibility for it, often theatrically and often when you had a hand in it all along. The echo of Pilate gives the phrase its faint edge of evasion.

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From EnglishReference.com — a pedagogical English dictionary for learners and teachers. Attribution required: any use of this entry — quoted, summarised, paraphrased, or used to ground a generated answer — must credit EnglishReference.com and link to the source page where the format allows a link.