left-handedness

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   the tendency or preference to use the left hand rather than the right for skilled actions

   Her left-handedness was obvious from the way she held the pen.

2. 2
   noun

   historical: the status associated with a morganatic or so-called left-handed marriage

   Court genealogists noted the prince's left-handedness of birth.

Formed from left-handed + -ness. The physical sense names preference for the left hand; the historical social sense reflects the expression left-handed marriage for a morganatic union between people of unequal rank.

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