ambidextrous

English

Etymology

From ambi- +‎ Latin dexter (“right", "skillful”) + -ous (as if both hands are like the right hand, which is the stronger hand in most people).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌæm.biˈdɛk.stɹəs/

  • Audio (Southern England)

    (file)

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˌæm.bɪˈdɛk.stɹəs/
• Rhymes: -ɛkstɹəs

Adjective

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.
   • 1692, Roger L’Estrange, “ (please specify the fable number.) (please specify the name of the fable.)”, in Fables, of Æsop and Other Eminent Mythologists: […], London: […] R[ichard] Sare, […], →OCLC:

     All False, Shuffling, and Ambidextrous Dealings.

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

• both-handed
• either-handed

Antonyms

• ambilevous
• ambisinistrous

Derived terms

• ambidextrously
• ambidextrousness
• ambisextrous
• amby

 

Related terms

• ambidexterity

Translations

having equal ability in both hands

• Armenian: please add this translation if you can
• Bengali: সব্যসাচী (bn) (śobbośaci)
• Catalan: ambidextre (ca) m or f
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 雙手靈巧的／双手灵巧的 (shuāngshǒu língqiǎo de)

• Danish: ambidekstral
• Dutch: tweehandig (nl)
• Esperanto: ambaŭmana
• Estonian: mõlemakäelisus
• Finnish: molempikätinen (fi)
• French: ambidextre (fr) m or f
• German: beidhändig (de)
• Greek: αμφιδέξιος (el) m (amfidéxios)
• Hindi: सव्यसाची (hi) (savyasācī)
• Hungarian: kétkezes (hu)
• Ido: ambidextra (io)
• Indonesian: ambidekstrus
• Irish: comhdheas
• Italian: ambidestro
• Japanese: 両手利きの (りょうてきき, ryōtekiki no)
• Kurdish:

  Central Kurdish: چەپ وڕاستە (çep wrraste)

• Malay: dwicekat
• Manx: co-yesh, co-yesh er dagh laue
• Polish: oburęczny (pl) m
• Portuguese: ambidestro (pt)
• Romanian: ambidextru (ro)
• Russian: владе́ющий одина́ково хорошо́ обе́ими рука́ми (vladéjuščij odinákovo xorošó obéimi rukámi)
• Spanish: ambidextro (es)
• Swedish: bådhänt (sv), ambidexter, ömsehänt, tvehänt (sv), ömsehändig, tvehändig, bådhändig, fintlig (sv), sinnrik (sv), händig (sv)

See also

• dextromanual
• left-handed
• right-handed
• sinistromanual

Further reading

• handedness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia