ambidextrous

[ am-bi-dek-struhs ]
See synonyms for: ambidextrousambidextrousness on Thesaurus.com

adjective
  1. able to use both hands equally well: an ambidextrous surgeon.

  2. unusually skillful; facile: an ambidextrous painter, familiar with all media.

  1. double-dealing; deceitful.

  2. Slang. bisexual.

Origin of ambidextrous

1
First recorded in 1640–50; ambidext(e)r + -ous

Other words from ambidextrous

  • am·bi·dex·trous·ly, adverb
  • am·bi·dex·trous·ness, noun
  • pseu·do·am·bi·dex·trous, adjective
  • pseu·do·am·bi·dex·trous·ly, adverb

Words that may be confused with ambidextrous

Words Nearby ambidextrous

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use ambidextrous in a sentence

  • Of course, the ambidextrous ironies of the current situation work both ways.

    Obama's Tough Love for Detroit | Paul Kedrosky | March 31, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • He worked until those clever ambidextrous hands lost the cunning to work out the forms his active brain could still conceive.

    Literary New York | Charles Hemstreet
  • He is painting at a small easel and working in quite a wonderful manner, for he is ambidextrous.

    Literary New York | Charles Hemstreet
  • Man was once, in his childhood on earth, what Charles Reade wanted him again to be in his maturer centuries, ambidextrous.

    Falling in Love | Grant Allen
  • Because it has been found that children trained on ambidextrous lines develop neurotic symptoms.

    Feminism and Sex-Extinction | Arabella Kenealy
  • It is seldom that one in this world sees his way to being so adroitly ambidextrous.

British Dictionary definitions for ambidextrous

ambidextrous

/ (ˌæmbɪˈdɛkstrəs) /


adjective
  1. equally expert with each hand

  2. informal highly skilled or adept

  1. underhanded; deceitful

Derived forms of ambidextrous

  • ambidexterity (ˌæmbɪdɛkˈstɛrɪtɪ) or ambidextrousness, noun
  • ambidextrously, adverb

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012