dextral

adjective

dex·tral ˈdek-strəl

: of or relating to the right : inclined to the right: such as

: right-handed sense 3

of a gastropod shell : having the whorls coiling clockwise down the spire when viewed with the apex toward the observer and having the aperture situated on the right of the axis when held with the spire uppermost and with the aperture opening toward the observer compare sinistral

Example Sentences

Recent Examples on the Web The majority of snails are dextral, but sinistral forms have evolved time and time again. —

Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 7 Dec. 2010 Dextral snails are in the majority, so a dextral snail would have a far larger supply of mates than a sinistral one. —

Ed Yong, Discover Magazine, 7 Dec. 2010 There was one exception — when coauthor and citizen scientist Philippe Thomas mated second-generation dextral offspring of French sinistral garden snails. —

Kristen Rogers, CNN, 2 June 2020 Six of 32 dextral snails produced 17 sinistral offspring out of 6,302 total offspring. —

Kristen Rogers, CNN, 2 June 2020

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'dextral.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.