Meaning, Sentences, Synonyms and Antonyms for Adroit

Origin of Adroit:

Adroit has a fascinating origin story and the word has French origins. Maybe, that is why it has an exotic sound. Adroit breaks down to: ‘a’+’droit’, which means ‘towards’+ ‘right’. But what do we mean ‘towards right’?

Well, mankind has a pretty biased history (something we all know, don’t we) and we have always carried some forms of prejudice. One of those is against the left hand. Mankind always assumed the ‘right-hand’ to be the forbearer of all positive virtues and conversely, the ‘left’ to be a symbol of bad.

This gave way to words such as Dexterous (from Dexter, which means right hand in land). Dexterous means ‘Skillful in physical movements; especially of the hands’. On the other hand, Latin labelled the left hand as ‘sinister’. We all know what sinister means, don’t we?

Well, as an extension in French, we have ‘adroit’, with its leanings towards right. This leads us to its meaning: ‘Quick or skillful or adept in action or thought’. As they say, ‘right’ is always ‘right’, and in this case, even more so than the others. The left hand in French is labelled as ‘gauche’ (another import in to English). Any guesses what would it mean?

Some people are so adept at doing things, more than us sometimes. In such cases they are adroit beings, generally. However, those people can also be called adroit who are good at one thing and not necessarily everything. It is an adjective and its first usage dates back to 1645-55.

Pronunciation: uh-droit

Meaning of Adroit:

1) Someone dexterous .i.e. expert or adept in using their hands or bodies.
2) Skilful, resourceful or clever.

Our super tip to learn Adroit

The easiest way to learn adroit is remembering that you are really adept at. Further, adroit somehow sounds like Detroit, a city in United States of America.

Example Sentences for Adroit

1) He is an adroit Funambulist. (Adjective)
2) He is an adroit handler of tricky situations. . (Adjective)
3) He adroitly scripted a spoof for a famous movie. (Adverb)
4) His adroitness in the realm of debating won us many trophies. (Noun)

Synonyms of Adroit

skilful, adept, dexterous, deft, agile, nimble, nimble-fingered, handy

Antonyms of Adroit

awkward, clumsy, ignorant, incompetent, inept, unable, unhandy, unskilled

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