dexterity
Americannoun
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dexterities
plural
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skill or adroitness in using the hands or body; agility.
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mental adroitness or skill; cleverness.
noun
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physical, esp manual, skill or nimbleness
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mental skill or adroitness: cleverness
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rare the characteristic of being right-handed
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dexterity
First recorded in 1520–30; from Latin dexteritās “readiness, skillfulness,” from dexter “skillful” + -itās -ity
Explanation
If you fall asleep with your heavy head on your arm, you might not have the dexterity, or control of your hand, to hit the OFF button on the alarm clock in the morning. Very small children do well with mittens, because their dexterity, or skill in using their hands, isn’t as developed as in older kids and adults, who wear gloves to separate their fingers. Dexterity helps fingers and hands to coordinate for completing fine tasks like writing, sewing, and playing string instruments. "Mental dexterity" means a sharpness of mind, or skill in thinking creatively and understanding and expressing something quickly and easily.
Vocabulary lists containing dexterity
Romeo and Juliet
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The Hunger Games
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "D"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Johnson showed the same dexterity with his wedge play as he did when winning the 2007 Masters and 2015 Open to cruise to a two-stroke victory in the groundbreaking $3m event.
From BBC ● Aug. 2, 2026
The company has already secured orders for a new version of Digit that it is developing, which should have finer dexterity to move smaller objects and incorporate higher safety standards, according to Johnson.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
At an event in Berlin, Hartung stressed the importance of the components in improving the dexterity of robots.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
Some scientists believe this could eventually lead to more expressive digital instruments, smarter training tools, and even rehabilitation systems that use musical movement to improve dexterity and coordination.
From Science Daily ● May 28, 2026
But what sort of trap have they laid that requires such dexterity?
From "The Hunger Games" by Suzanne Collins
The crusty paint on ragged burlap, the blurred and bulbous shapes, can only be made to look tragic within the context of Klee's earlier dexterities.
From Time Magazine Archive
His incapacity for acquiring the dexterities by which men accommodate themselves to their neighbours' wants implied a tendency rather to under-estimate the worth, whatever it may be, of such dexterities.
From The Life of Sir James Fitzjames Stephen, Bart., K.C.S.I. A Judge of the High Court of Justice by Sir Leslie Stephen
The ordinary interest of didactic poetry is derived from the repellent qualities of the subject, and consequently from the dexterities of the conflict with what is doubtful, indifferent, unpromising.
From The Posthumous Works of Thomas De Quincey, Vol. 2 by Alexander H. (Alexander Hay) Japp
Miss Powers is very original in an older school, while Miss Nourse displays all the technical dexterities of the present day.
From The Galleries of the Exposition by Eugen Neuhaus
So next day, Lemoyne, deploying his natural graces and his dramatic dexterities, drew away the curtain.
From Bertram Cope's Year by Henry Blake Fuller
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
