Wiktionary

ambidextrous

English

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Etymology

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From Medieval Latin ambidexter +‎ -ous, the former from ambi- (“both”) + dexter (“right”), thus literally “both hands being like a right hand”.

The Latin word is first attested in the Vetus Latina, calquing Ancient Greek ἀμφοτεροδέξιος (amphoterodéxios) in Judges 3:15 after the Septuagint, itself translating Hebrew אִטֵּר יַד יְמִינוֹ (iṭṭēr yaḏ yəmīnō, literally “bound in his right hand”). This phrase is now generally translated as “left-handed”; the Septuagint translation is either from a variant reading or from a different interpretation.

Pronunciation

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Adjective

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ambidextrous (comparative more ambidextrous, superlative most ambidextrous)

  1. Having equal ability in both hands; in particular, able to write equally well with both hands.
    • 1650, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: […], 2nd edition, London: […] A[braham] Miller, for Edw[ard] Dod and Nath[aniel] Ekins, […], →OCLC:
      Some are […] ambidextrous or right-handed on both sides; which happeneth only unto strong and athletical bodies, whose heat and spirits are able to afford an ability unto both.
  2. Equally usable by left-handed and right-handed people (as a tool or instrument).
  3. (archaic) Practising or siding with both parties.
  4. (humorous) Of a person, bisexual.
  5. Exceptionally skillful; adept in more than one medium, genre, style, etc.
    Michelangelo was a very ambidextrous artist, producing sculptures and frescoes with equal ability.
    • 1884, The British Trade Journal and Export World, page 558:
      For years, by every possible device, we have been raising the prices of our agricultural products against the foreign buyers […] by every device known to the ambidextrous tradesman and financier. The result is that we have raised up other and unexpected competitors in the markets of the world.
    • 1998, Alan Spiegel, James Agee and the Legend of Himself: A Critical Study, University of Missouri Press, →ISBN, page 12:
      In a footnote, these admirers will often bemoan Agee as a Renaissance or at least ambidextrous artist in an age of specialization, a vast and turbulent ocean syphoned off through a garden hose; not just a novelist manque but also a frustrated […]
    • 2014, Pamela Lillian Valemont, Beauty Queen Murder - Allison Baden-Clay, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 49:
      He also played the piano and violin, was an ambidextrous artist, and enjoyed acting. Holidays were spent yachting or canoeing or with his brothers. By 1903, Baden-Powell's military training manual, Aids to Scouting, had become a best-seller, […]

Synonyms

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Antonyms

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Derived terms

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Translations

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See also

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Further reading

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