butter-fingered

He is so butter-fingered that he dropped the glass of milk.

Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Prone to dropping things: "butter-fingered" describes a person who is clumsy or awkward, especially with their hands, often causing them to drop objects they are holding.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • He is so butter-fingered that he dropped the glass twice. (He is clumsy and frequently lets things fall.)
  • The butter-fingered waiter spilled soup on the customer. (The waiter was awkward and caused an accident.)
  • I feel butter-fingered today; I keep dropping my pen. (I am experiencing temporary clumsiness.)

Advanced Usage

• "butter-fingered moment": a specific instance of clumsiness.

  • That was a butter-fingered moment when I dropped the keys. (A single event of being clumsy.)

• "butter-fingered with something": clumsy when handling a particular object.

  • She is butter-fingered with fragile items. (She is especially awkward when handling delicate things.)

Variants and Related Words

• Butterfingers (noun): a person who is clumsy or drops things; also used as a nickname for such a person.

  • Don't be a butterfingers with that vase! (Don't be clumsy and drop the vase.)

• Butter-fingeredness (noun, rare): the quality of being clumsy.

  • His butter-fingeredness caused many accidents in the kitchen. (His habitual clumsiness.)

Synonyms

• Clumsy: lacking skill or coordination in movement.
• Awkward: causing difficulty or embarrassment due to lack of grace.
• Graceless: lacking elegance or smoothness in movement.

Related Idioms

• Have butterfingers: to be prone to dropping things.

  • She has butterfingers today; she can't hold anything. (She is very clumsy at the moment.)

• Drop the ball: to make a mistake or fail to handle something properly.

  • He dropped the ball on the project by misplacing the files. (He made a clumsy error.)