different between ambidextrous vs ambisinister

English

Etymology

From ambi- +? Latin dexter (“right”) + -ous (as if both hands are like the right hand, which is the stronger hand in most people).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /æm.bi?d?k.st??s/
• Rhymes: -?kst??s

Adjective

ambidextrous (comparative more ambidextrous, superlative most ambidextrous)

1. Having equal ability in both hands; in particular, able to write equally well with both hands.
2. Equally usable by left-handed and right-handed people (as a tool or instrument).
3. (archaic) Practising or siding with both parties.
4. (humorous) Of a person, bisexual.
5. Exceptionally skillful; adept in more than one medium, genre, style, etc.
   • 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

See also

• dextromanual
• left-handed
• right-handed
• sinistromanual

Further reading

• handedness on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Etymology

ambi- +? sinister (literally “both sides left-handed”), by analogy with ambidextrous (literally “both sides right-handed”).

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /?æm.b??s?n.?.st?/

Adjective

ambisinister (comparative more ambisinister, superlative most ambisinister)

1. (rare) Awkward or clumsy with both hands.

See also

• ambidextrous