• home
  • vocab
  • tutoring
  • blog
  • help

Make Your Point > Archived Issues > DEFT

Send Make Your Point issues straight to your inbox.



pronounce DEFT:

DEFT
Your browser does not support the audio element.

connect this word to others:

The word deft means clever or skillful, and it often describes people's hands and movements.

It's a very close synonym of d_x___ous, meaning "able to work skillfully with the hands, the body, or the mind." Can you call that one?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) 

definition:

"Deft" comes from Old English and originally meant "gentle." Probably because gentle hands are also careful and skillful, "deft" grew to mean "skillful."

Today, deft things are quick, efficient, and skillful, and often even graceful.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "their deft movements;" "Their hands were deft."

Other forms: 

Deftness, deftly.

how to use it:

The word "deft" is formal, positive, and semi-common. It helps you sound factual and respectful.

Talk about someone's deft hands or fingers, or their deft movements, or their deft handling of a tool or a problem.

Or, talk about people's deft creations or achievements, like deft displays of flowers or deft diplomatic resolutions.

Although deftness is most often physical, as in "the deft strokes of his paintbrush," it can also be social ("his deft deflection of the rude question") and mental ("her deft analysis of the problem").

examples:

"Veteran sketch artists have never seen a trial like Trump's. It is only through their deft hands and keen eyes that the world gets a peek into the courtroom."
— Phil McCausland, BBC, 24 May 2024

"The woman bent over her and with deft fingers wove her hair into complex braids, twisting flowers into it as she did." 
— Philip Pullman, The Book of Dust: La Belle Sauvage, 2017

has this page helped you understand "deft"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "deft" without saying "done with confidence" or "done with finesse."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Some kind of animals or people, like athletes, dancers, or politicians) deftly maneuver as they (do something)."

Example 1: "The squirrels deftly maneuver as they swipe crusts of bread and carry them off into their hiding places."

Example 2:
   "The green light flashes, the flags go up.
   Churning and burning, they yearn for the cup.
   They deftly maneuver and muscle for rank,
   Fuel burning fast on an empty tank."
— Cake, "The Distance," 1996




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for August is "Degrees of Venndom."

I'll give you a pair of terms, and you decide how Venn-diagrammable they are. It’s harder than it sounds! To see my suggested answer, scroll all the way down. Your response doesn’t need to match mine; you should just be able to defend yours.

Try this today: At what degree of Venndom do GLACIER and ICEBERG exist? 

4th degree: these terms never overlap, like DOG and CAT.

3rd degree: these terms are nested, with one term always the other but not vice versa, like KITTEN and CAT.

2nd degree: these terms sometimes overlap, like PET and MAMMAL.

1st degree: these terms always overlap, like CAT and FELINE.

review this word:

1. The opposite of DEFT is

A. ADEPT: skillful or knowledgeable.
B. INEPT: stupid, clumsy, awkward, tactless, or ineffective.
C. NONDESCRIPT: hard or impossible to describe because it's not interesting.

2. With deft hands, he _____.

A. threads the needle
B. fumbles for his glasses
C. pounds back a cup of coffee




Answers to the review questions:
1. B
2. A

Answer to the game question:

GLACIER and ICEBERG are at the 4th degree: these terms never overlap, like DOG and CAT. My understanding is that icebergs chip off from glaciers, and at that point, they're not glaciers anymore.


a final word:


I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love.

I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.


From my blog:
On vocabulary...
      36 ways to study words.
      Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
      How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
      How to improve any sentence.
      How to motivate our kids to write.
      How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
      How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

Subscribe to "Make Your Point" for a daily vocabulary boost.



© Copyright 2024 | All rights reserved.