both-handedness

noun

Ambidexterity.

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Meanings

nounboth-handedness (uncountable)
  1. uncountableAmbidexterity.

    The binary nature of the study in effect erases mixed or both-handedness.

    2013, Marjorie Garber, Bisexuality and the Eroticism of Everyday Life, →ISBN, page 291
    2 more examples

    It has been claimed by some modern scientists that ambidexterity, or both-handedness, is the natural condition of the race, and that the use of one hand or the other by preference is an acquired habit belonging to the period of development in childhood.

    1893, John Clark Ridpath, Great races of mankind, page 40

    Until recently, and even now, both-handedness (ambidextrousness) has been mentioned as a cause of reading difficulties rather than seen as an indicator of immaturity.

    2012, Sally Smith, No Easy Answer: The Learning Disabled Child at Home and at School, →ISBN
  2. uncountableThe property of involving two sides, approaches, or orientations.

    Serving God with one hand and the devil with the other is a style of both-handedness from which we may well pray to be saved.

    1867, C.H. Spurgeon, The Sword and the trowel, →ISBN, page 58
    2 more examples

    The opposite-handednesses of the monolayer domains composed of D- and L-enantiomers, presence of both-handedness in racemic domains, ...

    2011, Nilashis Nandi, Chirality in Biological Nanospaces: Reactions in Active Sites, →ISBN, page 5

    They exhibit accordingly that property of amphi-cheirality or both-handedness which was noted in the laterales nerves of the lamprey, betokening a possible affinity with the circular neural ring of the jelly-fish.

    2014, D. Stanley-Jones, K. Stanley-Jones, The Kybernetics of Natural Systems: A Study in Patterns of Control, →ISBN, page 88

Origin

From both-handed + -ness.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

both-handedness. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/both-handedness

MLA

“both-handedness.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/both-handedness. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “both-handedness,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/both-handedness.

Source: both-handedness on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.