- 1(of a person's movements) skillful and quick deft hands/fingers/footwork He finished off the painting with a few deft strokes of the brush. In one deft movement, he had her hand locked behind her back.
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- 2skillful her deft command of the language
adverb I threw her a towel which she deftly caught. They deftly avoided answering my questions.
noun [uncountable]See deft in the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
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