different between adroit vs tricky

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French adroit, from French à (“on the; to”) (from Old French a (“to; towards”), from Latin ad (“to; towards”), from Proto-Indo-European *ád (“at; near”)) + French droit (“right”) (from Old French droit, dreit, from Vulgar Latin *dr?ctus, syncopated form of Latin d?rectus (“laid straight; direct, straight; level; upright”), perfective passive participle of d?rig? (“to lay straight”), from dis- (“apart, in two”) (from Proto-Indo-European *dwís (“twice; in two”)) + reg? (“to govern, rule; to guide, steer”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *h?ré?eti (“to be straightening, setting upright”))).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation, General American) IPA^(key): /??d???t/
• Rhymes: -??t

Adjective

adroit (comparative adroiter or more adroit, superlative adroitest or most adroit)

1. Deft, dexterous, or skillful.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:skillful

Antonyms

• clumsy
• maladroit

Derived terms

• adroitness
• adroitly
• maladroit

Translations

Anagrams

• Tirado

French

Etymology

à + droit. Doublet of adret.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.d?wa/

Adjective

adroit (feminine singular adroite, masculine plural adroits, feminine plural adroites)

1. skilful, apt, skilled (possessing skill, skilled)

Descendants

• ? English: adroit
• ? German: adrett
  • ? Danish: adræt

Further reading

• “adroit” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

Anagrams

• dorait, rodait, rôdait

English

Etymology

From trick +? -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /t??ki/

• Rhymes: -?ki

Adjective

tricky (comparative trickier, superlative trickiest)

1. hard to deal with, complicated

   They were in a tricky situation.
2. adept at using deception

   A tricky salesman can sell anything.

3. (colloquial, slang) Relating to or associated with a prostitution trick

   I don't want any of your tricky money, thank you!

Related terms

• trick

Translations

See also

• sneaky