deft

As I wrote in Salon a couple of years ago, Madison knew what he was doing, and he was deft in his use of English.

From Salon ● Jul. 1, 2026

Greenspan exhibited a deft touch with financial markets, saying the barest minimum in his statements but seemingly always conveying what traders wanted to hear.

From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026

His gift for the president of an "HMS Trump" ship's bell was a masterstroke of deft diplomacy.

From BBC ● Apr. 29, 2026

The director, Antoine Fuqua, a maestro of action thrillers such as “The Equalizer” trilogy, is surprisingly deft with the musical sequences.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 23, 2026

He watched while the blind man’s deft hands found the basil and tore the leaves into the wooden bowl.

From "Messenger" by Lois Lowry

Andrew Bayliss, the author of “Sparta: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Superpower,” is a defter writer than Xenophon.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 25, 2026

Even defter is Terrance Fleming’s channeling of a hippie Orsino, who lounges on cushions in the center of the in-the-round stage.

From Washington Post ● Aug. 9, 2021

Whatever one may wonder about Özil’s motivations, he has shown a defter touch on social media than most of his teammates have managed on the pitch since the season began.

From The Guardian ● Dec. 30, 2020

The balance of mystery and resolution felt defter here than it has in a few episodes, but there were still messes aplenty.

From New York Times ● Dec. 3, 2015

He is like to have in his pay the defter spadassins of the two.

From The Fifth Queen And How She Came to Court by Ford, Ford Madox

The online blurb says the book is a "darkly humorous novel that uses the deftest touch to draw a thread through the lives of Welsh farmers, city accountants, Indian hoteliers and Eisteddfod mums".

From BBC ● Mar. 19, 2026

The skill with which Friedan connects the dots between the subjugation of intelligent, educated women and the ruthless, calculated mind-numbing agenda of consumerism turns out to be her deftest move.

From Salon ● Jan. 5, 2025

Jay Roach’s movie follows the tribulations—and exhausted triumphs—of Dalton Trumbo, one of the deftest of American screenwriters.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 9, 2015

So Mr. Christie, among the deftest of politicians, took pains to put any tone of bullying aside.

From New York Times ● Dec. 14, 2013

The Romance is in rondo form with love-lorn iteration of themes and intermezzo, and deftest broidery, the whole ending, after a graceful Recollection, in a bliss of harmony.

From Contemporary American Composers Being a Study of the Music of This Country, Its Present Conditions and Its Future, with Critical Estimates and Biographies of the Principal Living Composers; and an Abundance of Portraits, Fac-simile Musical Autographs, and Compositions by Hughes, Rupert