- Today's Word
Adroit
uh-DROYT
Definition
- (adjective) Skillful, clever, or resourceful, especially in handling situations or using one’s hands.
Example
The chess champion was adroit in anticipating her opponent’s every move.
Fun Fact
“Adroit” comes from the French à droit, meaning “to the right,” reflecting the historical association of right-handedness with skill and dexterity. While originally used for physical abilities, today it often describes mental sharpness, such as being adroit in negotiations or problem-solving. Interestingly, its opposite, “maladroit,” means clumsy or unskillful.
(adjective) Lacking substance, interest, or mature thought; naive and simplistic in a way that reveals inexperience.
The critic dismissed the debut novel as jejune — competently written, technically adequate, and utterly devoid of anything worth remembering.
Jejune derives from the Latin jejunus, meaning “fasting” or “empty” — literally describing a stomach that has not been fed. The same root gives us jejunum, the section of the small intestine named for its tendency to be found empty after death. It entered English in the 17th century carrying its literal sense of emptiness before acquiring its figurative meaning of something intellectually or creatively hollow — content that has the form of nourishment without any of the substance.