left-handed Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective using or intended for the left hand
    • left-handed golfers need left-handed clubs
    • left-handed scissors
  2. adjective satellite (of marriages) illicit or informal
    • in Colonial America left-handed marriages between Frenchmen and Indians were frequent
  3. adjective satellite (of marriages) of a marriage between one of royal or noble birth and one of lower rank; valid but with the understanding that the rank of the inferior remains unchanged and offspring do not succeed to titles or property of the superior
    morganatic.
  4. adjective satellite rotating to the left
    levorotatory; levorotary.
  5. adjective satellite ironically ambiguous
    • a left-handed compliment
  6. adjective satellite lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands
    butterfingered; bumbling; handless; ham-handed; bungling; ham-fisted; heavy-handed.
    • a bumbling mechanic
    • a bungling performance
    • ham-handed governmental interference
    • could scarcely empty a scuttle of ashes, so handless was the poor creature"- Mary H. Vorse

WordNet

Left"-hand`ed adjective
Definitions
  1. Having the left hand or arm stronger and more dexterous than the right; using the left hand and arm with more dexterity than the right.
  2. Clumsy; awkward; unlucky; insincere; sinister; malicious; as, a left-handed compliment.
    The commendations of this people are not always left-handed and detractive. Landor.
  3. Having a direction contrary to that of the hands of a watch when seen in front; -- said of a twist, a rotary motion, etc., looked at from a given direction.

Webster 1913