dexterous means skillful with one's hands. It carries an Arena rating of 1783, earned across 53 head-to-head judged battles.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, dexterous ranks #259 of 42,747 for Qualifying, #1,152 of 17,127 for Words That Escaped Their Books, #1,404 of 17,126 for Most Elegant Words, #1,569 of 17,134 for Most Malleable Words.
dexterous is pronounced /ˈdɛkstɹəs/.
Why “dexterous” is a great word
Skillful and adept with the hands or body, or showing mental agility and cleverness. From Latin dexter ("right-hand, skillful, favorable") + the English suffix -ous. Unlike "adroit," which emphasizes cleverness and tact in complex situations, or "deft," which suggests a light, neat proficiency in a specific task, dexterous implies a broader, more general agility. It is the surgeon's confident economy of motion, the pianist's hands moving with unerring independence, and the diplomat's navigation of a room of competing egos—a fluent grace under pressure, the right hand of human capability making the difficult look like instinct.
Etymology
From Latin dexter (“right, ready”) + -ous. Displaced native Old English handcræftiġ.
adj
- Skillful with one's hands.e.g.“She is pleasingly dexterous with the chopsticks, and keeps one hand lying palm up on her lap. Pinched with just the right pressure between the sticks; funny how plump women have that delicate touch.” — 1960, John Updike, 'Rabbit, Run', page 57:
- Skillful in some specific thing.e.g.“We went frequently out with this boat a-fishing; and as I was most dexterous to catch fish for him, he never went without me.” — 1719 May 6 (Gregorian calendar), [Daniel Defoe], The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, […], London: […] W[illiam] Taylor […], →OCLC:
- Agile; flexible; able to move fluidly and gracefully.
- Skilled at argumentation; mentally skillful; quick-witted.e.g.“1775, speech by Edmund Burke
[…] the study [of law] renders men acute, inquisitive, dexterous, prompt in attack, ready in defense […]”
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.