/ deft; NAmE / adjective
1.
( of a person's movements ) skilful and quick :
deft hands / fingers / footwork
He finished off the painting with a few deft strokes of the brush.
2.
skilful :
her deft command of the language
► deft·ly adverb :
I threw her a towel which she deftly caught.
They deftly avoided answering my questions.
► deft·ness noun [ U ]
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WORD ORIGIN
Middle English : variant of daft , in the obsolete sense meek .