Standard Lemma guide

butterfingered

adj · 2 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.

Sound

Pronunciation

Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.

  • Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbʌtəˌfɪŋɡəd/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • General-American: /ˈbʌtɚˌfɪŋɡɚd/
  • General-American: [-ɾɚ-]

1

adj

Meaning 1

Prone to dropping things; clumsy.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: ambilevous, ambisinistrous

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands- Mary H. Vorse

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • a bumbling mechanic
  • a bungling performance
  • ham-handed governmental interference
  • could scarcely empty a scuttle of ashes, so handless was the poor creature

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: bumbling, bungling, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed, left-handed

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

From butter + fingered (“having fingers (of the specified kind)”), an allusion to people tending to drop things because their hands are so slippery that they seem to be covered in butter.

Across languages

Translations

10 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Faroese: lókutur — prone to dropping things — see also clumsy
  • French: qui a des mains de beurre — prone to dropping things — see also clumsy
  • Haitian Creole: men koule — prone to dropping things — see also clumsy
  • Haitian Creole: men pesè — prone to dropping things — see also clumsy
  • Italian: maldestro — prone to dropping things — see also clumsy
  • Norwegian: slepphendt — prone to dropping things — see also clumsy
  • Russian: косору́кий (kosorúkij) — prone to dropping things — see also clumsy
  • Russian: кривору́кий (krivorúkij) — prone to dropping things — see also clumsy
  • Serbo-Croatian: нѐспретан — prone to dropping things — see also clumsy
  • Serbo-Croatian: nèspretan — prone to dropping things — see also clumsy