ADROIT Synonyms: 42 Similar and Opposite Words

Q: How is the word 'adroit' different from other adjectives like it?

The words deft and dexterous are common synonyms of adroit . While all three words mean "ready and skilled in physical movement," adroit implies dexterity but usually also stresses resourcefulness or artfulness or inventiveness. // the magician's adroit response to the failure of her prop won applause

Q: When might 'deft' be a better fit than 'adroit'?

Although the words deft and adroit have much in common, deft emphasizes lightness, neatness, and sureness of touch or handling. // a surgeon's deft manipulation of the scalpel

Q: In what contexts can 'dexterous' take the place of 'adroit'?

The words dexterous and adroit can be used in similar contexts, but dexterous implies expertness with consequent facility and quickness in manipulation. // unrolled the sleeping bag with a dexterous toss

adroit

adjective

ə-ˈdrȯit

Definition of adroit next

as in virtuoso

accomplished with trained ability with an adroit flick of the wrist, flipped the omelet into the air and landed it squarely back in the pan

Synonyms & Similar Words

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How is the word adroit different from other adjectives like it?

The words deft and dexterous are common synonyms of adroit. While all three words mean "ready and skilled in physical movement," adroit implies dexterity but usually also stresses resourcefulness or artfulness or inventiveness.

the magician's adroit response to the failure of her prop won applause

When might deft be a better fit than adroit?

Although the words deft and adroit have much in common, deft emphasizes lightness, neatness, and sureness of touch or handling.

a surgeon's deft manipulation of the scalpel

In what contexts can dexterous take the place of adroit?

The words dexterous and adroit can be used in similar contexts, but dexterous implies expertness with consequent facility and quickness in manipulation.

unrolled the sleeping bag with a dexterous toss

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of adroit These mother-and-son exchanges rinse and repeat in the first stages of the storytelling, under the adroit direction of Rob Lutfy, mingling tension and absurdity. —

David L. Coddon, San Diego Union-Tribune, 11 June 2023 Six months ago, his historic landslide victory was widely lauded, viewed as the triumph of a politically adroit change-maker whose centrist policies had swept him to power. —

Dan Bilefsky, New York Times, 7 May 2023 The Premonitions Bureau, an adroit debut from the New Yorker staff writer Sam Knight, draws us into a world not-that-far-gone in which psychic phenomena were yet untamed by science and uncanny sensations still whispered of the supernatural, of cosmic secrets. —

Ian Beacock, The New Republic, 25 Aug. 2022 Both men were adroit in working the local political system, each was fixated on focal sepsis as the cause of psychosis, and each came to lose his capacity for objectivity in the pursuit of his goal. —

Neuroskeptic, Discover Magazine, 11 Jan. 2015 See all Example Sentences for adroit

Recent Examples of Synonyms for adroit

Adjective

Saros With Returnal, developer Housemarque made the skillful transition from shmup to third-person shooter.

— Jordan Minor, PCMAG, 13 Feb. 2025
My partner’s organization, energy, confidence, focus, and skillful ability to take charge?

— Emma Specter, Vogue, 13 Feb. 2025