Definition of "opposable" []

• Possible to oppose or resist. (adjective)
• That can be placed opposite something else: The thumb is an opposable digit. (adjective)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "That's what they used to call the opposable thumb."
• "In consequence of the proportions and mobility of the thumb, it is what is termed "opposable"; in other words, its extremity can, with the greatest ease, be brought into contact with the extremities of any of the fingers; a property upon which the possibility of our carrying into effect the conceptions of the mind so largely depends."
• "Many animals, primates and others, also have some kind of opposable thumb or toe."