indextrous

indextrous adjective: not dextrous; maladroit.

Adjective

indextrous (comparative more indextrous, superlative most indextrous)

Not dextrous; maladroit.
- He may think Memaw's consistent failure to strike him with the broom is a function of her indextrous skill with the broom used in this uncustomary manner.1998, Shannon Ravenel, Padgett Powell, New Stories from the South, page viii
- Charlie's inveterate clumsiness extends to indextrous misapplications of perfume, especially new ones whose atomizers she hasn't mastered.2008, Adam Davies, Mine All Mine
Not manual.
- No one better than he knew that an indextrous education is but half an education ; unless the hand have its delight as well as the brain, man expresses himself only in part.1913, Alden Sampson, Studies in Milton and Essay on Poetry, page 57

In their handshake we feel no understanding; we feel an indextrous hand that is not held to the equipment of our culture.2010, David Farrell Krell, David Wood, Exceedingly Nietzsche, page 66:
Preoccupied in this moment with looking foolish or indextrous in public, Trump displays a deep sensitivity for decorum and order—the semblance of which allows him, in turn, to “grab 'em by the pussy.”2018, Yuliya Komska, Michelle Moyd, David Gramling, Linguistic Disobedience: Restoring Power to Civic Language, page 7:

From in- + dextrous.

What does indextrous mean?: Indextrous means not dextrous; maladroit.
How do you use indextrous in a sentence?: In their handshake we feel no understanding; we feel an indextrous hand that is not held to the equipment of our culture.
What part of speech is indextrous?: Indextrous is an adjective.

Adapted from Wiktionary: indextrous (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

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