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LEFT-HANDED
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands
Example:
could scarcely empty a scuttle of ashes, so handless was the poor creature
Synonyms:
bumbling; bungling; butterfingered; ham-fisted; ham-handed; handless; heavy-handed; left-handed
Classified under:
Similar:
maladroit (not adroit)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Ironically ambiguous
Example:
a left-handed compliment
Classified under:
Similar:
ambiguous (having more than one possible meaning)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Rotating to the left
Synonyms:
left-handed; levorotary; levorotatory
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
anticlockwise; contraclockwise; counterclockwise (in the direction opposite to the rotation of the hands of a clock)
Sense 4
Meaning:
(of marriages) of a marriage between one of royal or noble birth and one of lower rank; valid but with the understanding that the rank of the inferior remains unchanged and offspring do not succeed to titles or property of the superior
Synonyms:
left-handed; morganatic
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
legitimate (of marriages and offspring; recognized as lawful)
Sense 5
Meaning:
(of marriages) illicit or informal
Example:
in Colonial America left-handed marriages between Frenchmen and Indians were frequent
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
illegitimate (of marriages and offspring; not recognized as lawful)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Using or intended for the left hand
Example:
left-handed scissors
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
left; left-hand (intended for the left hand)
sinistral (preferring to use left foot or hand or eye)
Also:
sinistral (of or on the left)
left (being or located on or directed toward the side of the body to the west when facing north)
Antonym:
ambidextrous (equally skillful with each hand)
right-handed (using or intended for the right hand)
Derivation:
left-handedness (preference for using the left hand)
