Meaning & use
dexterity
Last updated
Meanings
noununcountable
Skill and ease in using your hands to do delicate or quick tasks.
Grammar: Uncountable, often with manual: manual dexterity.
Patterns
- dexterity with something
- with dexterity
The surgeon's dexterity was clear in every stitch.
Playing the guitar takes great finger dexterity.
She peeled the apple with surprising dexterity.
noununcountableformal
Quickness and cleverness in thinking or dealing with situations.
Grammar: Less common sense, used with mental or verbal: mental dexterity.
Patterns
- dexterity in something
The lawyer showed great verbal dexterity in court.
He handled the awkward questions with political dexterity.
Her mental dexterity helped her solve the puzzle quickly.
Common combinations
- manual dexterity
- Knitting improves manual dexterity.
- finger dexterity
- Typing requires finger dexterity.
- remarkable dexterity
- The juggler displayed remarkable dexterity.
- with great dexterity
- He tied the knot with great dexterity.
- mental dexterity
- Chess demands mental dexterity.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nimbleness
- Nimbleness stresses lightness and speed of movement of the whole body, not only skillful hands.
- skill
- Skill is general for any ability, while dexterity is skill specifically in handling things.
- deftness
- Deftness suggests quick, neat handling that appears effortless, and is close to dexterity.
- agility
- Agility is about moving the body quickly and easily, rather than precise handwork.
Opposites
Word family
- dexterous adjective
- skillful with the hands
- dextrous adjective
- a variant spelling of dexterous
- dexterously adverb
- in a skillful way
- ambidextrous adjective
- able to use both hands equally well
Commonly confused: dexterity or dexterity vs. dignity?
dexterity vs dexterity vs. dignity
They look alike, but dignity is calm self-respect or worth, while dexterity is skill with the hands.
Practice
The watchmaker repaired the tiny gears with remarkable ___.
Choose one answer.
Dexterity is skill with the hands, which matches delicate watch repair. Clumsiness is the opposite.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “dexterity”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.