Ambidexter
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Someone who is ambidextrous.
- 2 A lawyer who takes fees from both plaintiff and defendant. archaic
"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 apparently little to do with reason further than to employ it as an ambidexter implement for effecting the irrational."
- 3 Someone who is two-faced; a double-dealer, such as a cheat or a crook. broadly
"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."
- 1 Ambidextrous. not-comparable
"He then changed his battery, and being ambidexter, raised such a clatter upon the turnkey’s blind side, that this hero, believing him left-handed, converted his attention that way, and opposed the unenlightened side of his face to the right hand of Pipes […]"
Synonyms
All synonymsExample
More examples""Did you know Tom is an ambidexter?" "Um, who?" "I just told you: Tom.""
Etymology
Borrowed from Medieval Latin ambidexter, from Latin ambi- + dexter.
Related phrases
More for "ambidexter"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.