How to Use opposable in a Sentence

opposable

adjective
Definition of opposablenext
  • Humans have an opposable thumb.
  • Yeah, let’s blow it up and give it opposable thumbs and boxing gloves.
    — Joan Niesen, SI.com, 3 Aug. 2017
  • Its opposable thumb allows it to wield tools, flash symbols and now, type out texts.
    — Amanda Hess, New York Times, 11 Oct. 2017
  • The indri is a lemur, a primate with opposable thumbs; a short tail; and round, tufted, teddy-bear-like ears.
    — Sara Harrison, Wired, 21 Dec. 2021
  • Pictures in some form have been around almost as long as opposable thumbs.
    — John Pearley Huffman, Car and Driver, 6 Jan. 2020
  • My thumbs, made opposable by evolution so that humans could grab things and not just tap on a screen to acquire them, weren’t working the way they were designed to.
    — Lee Siegel, New York Times, 22 Apr. 2017
  • All pets really need is your care and the occasional use of your opposable thumbs.
    — Alessandra Codinha, Vogue, 6 May 2021
  • He was born without opposable thumbs, or even hands, and has trouble climbing ladders as a result.
    — Wes Siler, Outside Online, 20 Apr. 2016
  • This allows you the use of your most helpful digits — your index finger and opposable thumbs — for as long as possible.
    — Jessica Ourisman, Good Housekeeping, 24 July 2019
  • For its size (and lack of opposable thumbs) though, Africa’s incredible social weaver surely comes close.
    — Matt Simon, WIRED, 22 Aug. 2014
  • One of the reasons humans are such a dominant species is not only our brains, nor just our opposable thumbs, but the incredible range of motion of our arms.
    — Ajc Homepage, ajc, 29 Apr. 2017
  • The consultants also addressed how a character might stand in frame so their ASL is seen, and in the case of the chimps, sign hanging upside down from a branch or even with their feet, which have opposable big toes.
    — Abbey White, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Jan. 2022
  • Our language is uninterested in the verdicts of the old man’s thumbs (opposable, yet—for the moment, at least—unopposed).
    — Salman Rushdie, The New Yorker, 16 Nov. 2020
  • But what makes Paddles truly special are her opposable thumbs.
    — Sarah Spellings, The Cut, 26 Oct. 2017
  • It’s been said that stories were crucial to our development as people— more so than opposable thumbs.
    — Rodger Dean Duncan, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2023
  • The creator of the post, Mike Roman, claims the bear activated the ski-lift and boarded a chair on its own — a remarkable feat for an animal without opposable thumbs.
    — Bayliss Wagner, USA TODAY, 28 June 2021
  • Obviously the Angels will be a lot less opposable without Trout’s thumb.
    — Mark Whicker, Orange County Register, 3 June 2017
  • Spring in our step Primate feet evolved mostly to grasp while climbing, which is why chimpanzees have more flexible feet than humans and why their big toes are opposable, like our thumbs.
    — Kiona N. Smith, Ars Technica, 15 Aug. 2018
  • For instance, researchers believe these sequences are behind the development of the uterus and also of our opposable thumbs.
    — Daniel Bastardo Blanco, Discover Magazine, 13 Aug. 2019
  • More to the point, though, climbing bamboo trees is difficult without an opposable digit.
    — National Geographic, 21 Oct. 2019
  • With their opposable toes and flat feet, early human ancestors have often been portrayed as weird walkers, swaying from side to side or rolling off the outside edges of their feet.
    — Ann Gibbons, Science | AAAS, 2 Apr. 2018
  • Then more sad and happy things happen — things that Enzo, with his gruff inner monologue and his non-opposable thumbs, can only share with the people sitting on the other side of this celluloid.
    — Leah Greenblatt, EW.com, 6 Aug. 2019
  • Unless her dog suddenly sprouted legs and opposable thumbs, then this entire sequence is fishier than, well, sushi.
    — Christopher Rosa, Glamour, 30 May 2018
  • Raccoons have five digits on their paws but actually lack opposable thumbs.
    — René A. Guzman, ExpressNews.com, 25 Aug. 2020
  • Sensory signals travel up this cable from the fingers and, crucially, motor signals flow back down from the brain to move the thumb toward the pinkie, giving us the opposable thumb that makes humans distinct.
    — STAT, 12 Dec. 2019
  • Other examples of convergence include the rise of flight among birds, bats, insects, and pterodactyls, and the evolution of opposable thumbs in primates, pandas, and opossums.
    — Eoin O'Carroll, The Christian Science Monitor, 14 July 2017
  • Musk and the other presenters repeatedly referenced the importance of utility for the robot, which will have opposable thumbs to use tools in a human-like fashion.
    — Emily Dreibelbis, PCMAG, 1 Oct. 2022
  • Being one inch tall also alters the difficulty of almost any in-game challenge (compounded if characters lack opposable thumbs).
    — Pearse Anderson, Wired, 9 Sep. 2021
  • Similar to how certain traits from ancient humans, like bipedal walking and opposable thumbs, were passed along to much of today’s population, viruses evolve to favor characteristics that aid in their survival — a process known as natural selection.
    — Molly Glick, Discover Magazine, 29 Sep. 2021
  • For example, Padian tells Gizmodo that otters and raccoons have opposable thumbs but aren’t arboreal.
    — Alex Fox, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Apr. 2021

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'opposable.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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