Meaning & use
right arm
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Meanings
nouncountable
The arm on the right-hand side of the body.
Grammar: Usually used with a possessive or the: she broke her right arm.
Patterns
- raise your right arm
- break your right arm
He broke his right arm when he fell off the bicycle.
Raise your right arm if you know the answer.
The nurse rolled up her right arm to check the pressure.
nounbefore a nounsportBritish
In cricket, describing a bowler who delivers the ball with the right arm, as in right-arm fast or right-arm spin.
Grammar: Often used before a bowling style: a right-arm spinner.
Patterns
- right-arm fast
- right-arm over the wicket
He is a right-arm bowler who swings the new ball both ways.
The captain brought on a right-arm spinner after lunch.
She took four wickets with her right-arm medium pace.
nounsingularfigurativeinformal
A person who is trusted and helped someone very much, in the phrase someone's right arm.
Grammar: Used with a possessive: she was the director's right arm.
Patterns
- be someone's right arm
Maria was the manager's right arm during the busy season.
He served as the mayor's right arm for ten years.
Every leader needs a loyal right arm.
Word forms
| plural | right arms |
|---|
Common combinations
- raise your right arm
- Raise your right arm and take the oath.
- sprain your right arm
- She sprained her right arm in the fall.
- right-arm bowler
- He is a quick right-arm bowler.
- right arm in a cast
- He walked in with his right arm in a cast.
- give your right arm
- I'd give my right arm for a seat at that concert.
Synonyms and how they differ
- right-hand man
- This is the common idiom for a trusted helper and is used about people, unlike right arm which mainly names the body part.
- deputy
- A deputy has a formal job as second in command, while a right arm is an informal description of closeness and trust.
Opposites
Word family
- right-handed adjective
- using the right hand more skillfully
- left arm noun
- the matching limb on the other side
- armful noun
- as much as the arms can hold
Commonly confused: right arm or right hand?
right arm vs right hand
The right hand is only the hand at the end; the right arm includes the shoulder, elbow and forearm.
Practice
The cricket commentator described him as a ___ bowler.
Choose one answer.
Right-arm is the fixed compound used before bowler, as in right-arm fast. Right-armed is not the normal form in this context.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “right arm”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.