dextrous
Americanadjective
adjective
Other Word Forms
Explanation
If you're dextrous, you're graceful and skilled. A dextrous magician can wave her hands around and appear to pull a rabbit out of thin air. When you're dextrous, you have a physical skill — you could be a dextrous football player or a dextrous bass guitarist. You can also describe someone as dextrous who's a quick or clever thinker: "Her jokes are hilarious because she's really verbally dextrous." You can also spell this word as dexterous, and both versions have a Latin root, dexter, "skillful."
Vocabulary lists containing dextrous
A Man Called Ove
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Paradise Lost
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The Middle Ages
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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.
Chinese firms Unitree and AgiBot aim to again wow spectators with their dextrous humanoid robots, while European start-ups including Genesis and PAL Robotics will also be on show.
From Barron's ● Jun. 17, 2026
As many great apes perform dextrous and technical foraging behaviours, it is likely that the capacity for these complex sequences is shared across ape species.
From Science Daily ● Dec. 5, 2024
Next came Bing, Microsoft's search engine updated with a similarly dextrous chatbot, which can answer queries where no obvious result existed online -- like what car seat to buy for a particular model vehicle.
From Reuters ● May 10, 2023
Dylan's voice is smooth and dextrous throughout, having benefitted from an extended break in touring during the Covid-19 pandemic.
From BBC ● Jul. 5, 2022
Standing, he lifted his knee, placed the box thereon, and with dextrous skill started the button like an improvised buzz-saw against the flint.
From The Red Debt Echoes from Kentucky by Everett MacDonald
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.
