Meaning & use
sinistral
Relating to or preferring the left side; left-handed, or, in shells, coiling to the left.
See it in a sentence
Sinistral individuals make up roughly ten percent of the human population.
Most snail shells spiral to the right, so a sinistral shell is considered unusual.
A note on using this word
Sinistral is a technical term used mainly in biology and specialized writing rather than everyday speech, where 'left-handed' is more common.
Words with a similar meaning
left-handed
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
dextral
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