Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Dexterous; skilful; expert in the use of the hand, and hence of the mind; ingenious; ready in invention or execution; possessing readiness of resource.
- Synonyms Cunning, Artful, Sly, etc. See cunning. Adroit, Dexterous, Expert, Skilful, Clever, smart, handy, apt, quick, subtle. The first four words express primarily various degrees in the combination of manual facility with knowledge. Adroit and dexterous make prominent the idea of a trained hand: as, an adroit pickpocket; a dexterous conjurer, swordsman. Adroitness implies quickness or suddenness; dexterity may require sustained agility. Adroit tends toward sinister figurative meanings: as, an adroit rogue; but mental adroitness may be simply address or tact. Expert emphasizes experience, practice, and hence is commonly a lower word than skilful, which makes knowledge the principal thing: a skilful mechanic makes more use of his mind than an expert mechanic. Clever implies notable quickness, readiness, resource in practical affairs, and sometimes the lack of the larger powers of mind: a clever mechanic has fertility in planning and skill in executing what is planned. A clever statesman may or may not be an able one; a man may be clever in evil.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Dexterous in the use of the hands or in the exercise of the mental faculties; exhibiting skill and readiness in avoiding danger or escaping difficulty; ready in invention or execution; -- applied to persons and to acts.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. quick or skillful or adept in action or thought
Etymologies
- Borrowed from French adroit. (Wiktionary)
- French, from à droit : à, to (from Latin ad; see ad-) + droit, right (from Latin dīrēctus; see direct). (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“In other words, we expect quite a lot from the "adroit" waiter from the point of view of active knowledge gathering and skillful orchestration of movements based on the current cognitive map -- representation of the world and management of the body.”
“So what is the standard of competence and performance that we implicitly have in mind when we deploy the standards of "adroit" and "clumsy" when it comes to physical performances?”
“But humble people do not claim - as Bernanke does, under Congress 'mandate - the competence to simultaneously produce, with "adroit" policies, price stability and full employment.”
“But humble people do not claim -- as Bernanke does, under Congress 'mandate -- the competence to simultaneously produce, with "adroit" policies, price stability and full employment.”
“If it is not too soon to reuse the word "adroit", that is certainly how I would describe Mr Key's management of the 14-day political transition from Labour to National.”
“-- the competence to simultaneously produce, with "adroit" policies, price stability and full employment.”
“[Footnote 1: 'adroit' above 'good'.] [Footnote 2: 'extemporary' above 'present', 'solution' in place of”
“General Petraeus showed a dazzling adroit political strategy in Iraq when he pulled back the tumultuous country from the brink of a collapse in 2007 and 2008.”
The Huffington Post: Ehsan Azari Stanizai: To Solve Afghanistan's Great Game Climb the Hills and Ask
“They thought he had a mind of high creativity and resourcefulness that, when not crossing the line into psychosis, was sharp, adroit, and original.”
“Also, Thompson was a stylist noted for his adroit use of an unreliable narrator.”
The Huffington Post: Erica Abeel: The Killer Inside Me : Can Battering Women Be Entertainment?
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘adroit’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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1100
abound, technology, branch of knowled..., prognosticate, automaton, matron, an older married ..., realm, special field of ..., kingdom, annals, historical records and 981 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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3/4 year Vocab List
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, awe, buffoon, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron and 96 more...
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my fab list
blowsabella, aperçu, froideur, salubrious, abject, gallipot, mumchance, wainscot, virago, macerate, lascivious, clandestine and 181 more...
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GRE 2014
abate, abdicate, abase, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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(1st_wk_150)-Dec_5_2012
voracious, indiscriminate, eminent, steeped, replete, abound, technology, prognosticate, automaton, matron, paradox, realm and 297 more...
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INTERP - speeches can be...
adequate, adroit, blunt, blurred, committed, divisive, exacerbating, fitting, hollow, lengthy, murky, pronounced and 123 more...
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GRE
droll, dyspeptic, ebullient, ardor, edify, efficacy, malinger, mannered, martinet, maudlin, mendacious, mendicant and 102 more...
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1st_wk_double_review
review easily forgettable words
replete, adroit, wrest, jostle, voracious, mundane, terrestrial, praying mantis, larvae, wasp, grasshopper, underscore
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GRE 1100
drudgery, implore, hapless, nuance, wrest, incipient, inadvertent, tremulous, bristle, euphemism, disdain, pugnacious and 346 more...
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big book gre
abase, abbess, abbey, abbot, abdicate, abdomen, abdominal, abduction, abed, aberration, abet, abeyance and 6691 more...
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gre2
aberrant, aberration, aboveboard, abrasive, abstemious, acme, admonish, affable, affluent, alacrity, allegory, alleviate and 1896 more...
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1100 words you need to know
GRE words
voracious, indiscriminate, replete, steeped, eminent, perceive, intrepid, compound, automaton, reticent, interminable, drudgery and 288 more...
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ICE
quincunx, adoxography, panjundrum, breloque, surd, scripturient, rousant, favrile, embouchure, aquarelle, griffonage, sussultatory and 234 more...
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word tank
a couple words
logolepsy, nefarious, quintessential, tintinnabulation, serendipity, rhapsody, palimpsest, panoply, mellifluous, imbue, loquacious, garrulous and 174 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for adroit.
hernesheir 1906 US Railway Association Standard Cipher Code; telegraph shorthand for "Shall we change the advertisement?". Jan 19, 2013
bilby "Its leader, Khomeini, made adroit use of Shiite history and Iranian nationalism to attract ever-increasing support. He managed to unite the disparate anti-Shah forces, both religious and secular -- including Marxists of various shades -- by his most radical demand: the deposition of Muhammad Reza Shah Pahlavi."
- Dilip Hiro, The Clash of Islam and Democracy in Iran, tomdispatch.com, 28 June 2009. Jun 29, 2009