dextral

American  

[dek-struhl] / ˈdɛk strəl /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or on the right side; right (opposed to sinistral).

2. right-handed.

3. Zoology. Also (of certain gastropod shells) coiling clockwise, as seen from the apex.

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dextral British  

/ ˈdɛkstrəl, dɛkˈstrælɪtɪ /

adjective

1. of, relating to, or located on the right side, esp of the body; right-hand

2. of or relating to a person who prefers to use his right foot, hand, or eye; right-handed

3. (of the shells of certain gastropod molluscs) coiling in an anticlockwise direction from the apex; dextrorse

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Other Word Forms

• dextrality noun
• dextrally adverb

Etymology

Origin of dextral

1640–50; < Latin dext ( e ) r dexter + -al ¹

Example Sentences

An example of a dextral, right-lateral strike-slip fault is the San Andreas Fault, which denotes a transform boundary between the North American and Pacific plates.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

If the opposing block moves right, it is dextral motion.

From Textbooks • Jan. 1, 2017

Given that handedness is apparent early in life and the vast majority of people are right-handed, we are almost certainly dextral by nature.

From Scientific American • Mar. 24, 2013

Right′-hand′ed, using the right-hand more easily than the left: dextral: clockwise.—ns.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 3 of 4: N-R) by Various

The four dragon-flies on the rim of this object are placed in such a way as to represent insects flying about the box in a dextral circuit, or with the heads turned to the right.

From Archeological Expedition to Arizona in 1895 Seventeenth Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, 1895-1896, Government Printing Office, Washington, 1898, pages 519-744 by Fewkes, Jesse Walter