Standard Lemma guide

dextrorotatory

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.

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Pronunciation

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1

adj

Meaning 1

That rotates the plane of polarized light to the right, or clockwise. Notation: (+) or formerly lowercase d-.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: not-comparable

Topics: chemistry, natural-sciences, physical-sciences

Examples

  • Dexibuprofen is the active dextrorotatory enantiomer of ibuprofen.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

2

adjective satellite

Meaning 2

rotating to the right

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: dextrorotary, right-handed

Antonyms: none provided

History

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *déḱs Proto-Indo-European *deḱs-terósder. Proto-Italic *deksteros Latin dexter English dextro- English rotatory English dextrorotatory From dextro- + rotatory.

Across languages

Translations

9 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Catalan: dextrorotatori — that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right
  • Finnish: dekstrorotatorinen — that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right
  • French: dextrogyre — that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right
  • German: rechtsdrehend — that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right
  • Greek: δεξιόστροφος (dexióstrofos) — that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right
  • Italian: destrogiro — that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right
  • Portuguese: dextrógiro — that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right
  • Russian: правовращающий (pravovraščajuščij) — that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right
  • Spanish: dextrógiro — that rotates the plane of polarized light to the right