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

Adjective

ambidextrous (comparative more ambidextrous, superlative most ambidextrous)

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 152706203:
  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.
Equally usable by left-handed and right-handed people (as a tool or instrument).
(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 228727523:
  All False, Shuffling, and Ambidextrous Dealings.
(humorous) Of a person, bisexual.
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

ambidextrousness

Related terms

ambidexterity

Translations

having equal ability in both hands

Bengali: সব্যসাচী (bn) (sôbẏsacī)
Catalan: ambidextre (ca) m or f
Chinese:
Mandarin: 雙手靈巧的／双手灵巧的 (shuāngshǒu língqiǎo de)
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
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)