Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Skillful in the use of the hands.
- adj. Having mental skill or adroitness.
- adj. Done with dexterity.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Having greater skill in using the right hand than the left; right-handed.
- Possessing manual skill; hence, skilful or adroit in the use of the body in general; quick and precise in action.
- Having mental adroitness or skill; ready in the use of the mental faculties; prompt in contrivance and management; clever; expert: as, a dexterous manager.
- Exhibiting dexterity, in any sense; skilful; artful; clever: as, dexterous management.
- Synonyms Expert, Skilful, etc. (see adroit), nimble, brisk, agile.
Wiktionary
- adj. Skillful with one's hands.
- adj. Skillful in some specific thing
- adj. Agile; flexible; able to move fluidly and gracefully
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Ready and expert in the use of the body and limbs; skillful and active with the hands; handy; ready.
- adj. Skillful in contrivance; quick at inventing expedients; expert.
- adj. Done with dexterity; skillful; artful.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands
Etymologies
- From Latin dexter, skillful; see dexter.
Examples
“In fact, I got into trouble recently because of "dexterous"--or rather, because I told someone that a left-handed person can't technically be dexterous.”
“He laughed with everybody who would exchange a laugh with him, shook hands right and left, with what may be certainly called a dexterous cordiality; made his appearance at the market-day and the farmers 'ordinary; and, in fine, acted like a consummate hypocrite, and as gentlemen of the highest birth and most spotless integrity act when they wish to make themselves agreeable to their constituents, and have some end to gain of the country-folks.”
“He laughed with every body who would exchange a laugh with him, shook hands right and left, with what may be certainly called a dexterous cordiality; made his appearance at the market-day and the farmers 'ordinary; and, in fine, acted like a consummate hypocrite, and as gentlemen of the highest birth and most spotless integrity act when they wish to make themselves agreeable to their constituents, and have some end to gain of the country folks.”
The History of Pendennis, Volume 2 His Fortunes and Misfortunes, His Friends and His Greatest Enemy
“Second, an IBM survey of some 1,500 global CEOs noted that the biggest challenges they faced had to do with the ability of their organizations to relate to diverse corporate stakeholders; the ability to foster "dexterous" organizations that could act quickly, change as needed, and be self-correcting in a bottoms-up rather than top-down approach; and the ability to generate creativity throughout all aspects of a company's business.”
The Huffington Post: Charles Kolb: The Building Blocks of Corporate Statesmanship
“It isn't for nothing that we speak about "the right answer" and not the left one, why the Latin dexter (right) gives us "dexterous" but the Latin sinister (left) gives us, well, "sinister.”
“The work-droid can easily handle 20lb weights in Earth gravity, which is said to be well in excess of what other "dexterous" robots can manage.”
“The word for right is dexter, from which derives our word dexterous, meaning ` skillful, clever, or artful. ”
“` fail in a design '; literally, ` not sufficiently "dexterous,"' since the bowhand is usually the left. be wide at (on, of) the bowhand”
“Many pundits of the time tried to explain Jewish basketball prowess as biological: Jews were naturally more dexterous and had greater intrinsic athletic ability than non-Jews.”
“The Equinox glove from Specialized is thin but keeps your hands warm and dexterous.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘dexterous’.
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4084 more...
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Skilled
precise, dexterous, expert, crafty, adept, proficient, agile, artful, qualified, capable, talented, facile and 1 more...
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3 words to describe yourself
for interview what words would you use?? dont use the typical words
vivacious, sprightly, adroit, dexterous, personable, insightful, quixotic

offpost I call my boyfriend dexterous Feb 1, 2011