index finger

noun

1. forefinger.

index finger

noun

1. the finger next to the thumb Also calledforefinger

Word History and Origins

Origin of index finger¹

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Lobster mittens have separate compartments for your thumb and index finger, which will enhance your dexterity on skis, since you can use your first two fingers independently of the other three.

From Popular-Science

So that September afternoon, they lined up beside each other, swinging their arms across their bodies, raising their right knees and connecting their index fingers.

From Washington Post

That way, you won’t end up with a huge hole between your thumb and index finger.

From Popular-Science

Carefully slide your index finger under the skin of the chicken, loosening it from the flesh without tearing it.

From Washington Post

Because of the tightness of the handcuffs, she lost feeling in her right index finger and thumb and had to be treated for what she said was a hairline wrist fracture.

From Washington Post

He stuck his index finger in the red welt around the spot where bin Laden shot me.

From The Daily Beast

Abu Hassar began to twirl it between his index finger and thumb.

From The Daily Beast

Poe and Dylan Thomas both wheeled and reeled until the index finger representing each of them collapsed.

From The Daily Beast

What if you set up the phone using your right index finger and then your right index finger gets chopped off in a food processor?

From The Daily Beast

The intermediate and distal phalanges of the index finger show contraction, as if the Palestinian Arab were squeezing something.

From The Daily Beast

Slowly and carefully he pointed his index finger at it, extending it and raising his thumb like a little boy playing Stick-'Em-Up.

From Project Gutenberg

A crackling, searing bolt of blue-white energy leaped out of the tip of his index finger in a pencil-thin beam.

From Project Gutenberg

“But he works for—” Then her eyes became very wide, her mouth opened, and she pointed an index finger at Mike.

From Project Gutenberg

I knew it must be the same one, and belonging to the same person, for the hand was raised, and the index finger shaking.

From Project Gutenberg

I took a few steps in the same direction, but I paused when he turned and shook that index finger at me in that peculiar way.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• forefinger
• pointer