Word.ws English Dictionary

ambodexter

ambodexter is the obsolete spelling of ambidexter.

Meaning of ambidexter

Noun

ambidexter (plural ambidexters)

  1. Someone who is ambidextrous.
    Synonyms:
    ambi, amby
  2. (archaic) A lawyer who takes fees from both plaintiff and defendant.
    • But the thing which in eminent instances signalizes so exceptional a nature is this: though the man's even temper and discreet bearing would seem to intimate a mind peculiarly subject to the law of reason, not the less in his heart he would seem to riot in complete exemption from that law, having...1888–1891, Herman Melville, “(please specify |chapter=I to XXVI)”, in Billy Budd and Other Stories, London: John Lehmann, published 1951, →OCLC
  3. (broadly) Someone who is two-faced; a double-dealer, such as a cheat or a crook.
    • One takes upon him temperence, holiness […], whenas indeed he, and he, and he, and the rest are hypocrites, ambidexters, outsides, so many turning pictures, a lion on one side, a lamb on the other., New York Review of Books, 2001, p.65

See all 4 meanings of ambidexter

Forms of ambodexter

pluralambodexters

Origin of ambodexter

From Latin ambidexter. Compare ambo-.

Questions about ambodexter

What is ambodexter the obsolete spelling of?
Ambodexter is the obsolete spelling of ambidexter.

Words near ambodexter in the dictionary

  1. ambo-
  2. amboceptoid
  3. amboceptoids
  4. amboceptor
  5. amboceptors
  6. ambodexter
  7. ambodexters
  8. amboina
  9. amboinas
  10. Amboise
  11. ambon

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: ambodexter (page history and authors); ambidexter (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “ambodexter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ambodexter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.