dexterity
Americannoun
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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:
He handles a violin and a sniper’s rifle with equal dexterity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 26, 2026
Early is so certain of everything he wants his debut film to be, and executes those desires with such consistent dexterity and style that watching “Maddie’s Secret” is akin to seeing someone win the lottery.
From Salon ● Jun. 22, 2026
The main aim of the offer is to perform tasks requiring dexterity, to train the robots of the future to use their hands.
From BBC ● Jun. 20, 2026
As the Quanta X1 Pro's clothes folding demonstrated, robots still can't match human dexterity.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
Dorian spun Celaena with speed and dexterity, and she snapped into his arms, her shoulders rising with exhilaration.
From "Throne of Glass" by Sarah J. Maas
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
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 Neuhaus, Eugen
Discipline, the dexterities of strategy, an enlightened courage, and the tremendous force of esprit de corps were alike nullified.
From The Story of Old Fort Loudon by Murfree, Mary Noailles
Analogy makes it easy to assume that the ways of beasts had produced channels of habit and predisposition along which dexterities and other psychophysical activities would run easily.
From Folkways A Study of the Sociological Importance of Usages, Manners, Customs, Mores, and Morals by Sumner, William Graham
The dexterities of subtle logic rarely stir the hearts of the people, or convince them.
From Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry by Pike, Albert
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.
