Dictionary

black thumb en · NOUN

Etymology

By analogy to green thumb.

Meanings

1. A lack of skill in gardening; brown thumb.
   • I think of doctors as having the equivalent of green thumbs or black thumbs in gardening. 2007, Jean Shinoda Bolen, Close to the Bone: Life-Threatening Illness As a Soul Journey, →ISBN:
   • Odds are that if you're reading this book, you've either never gardened before or you've tried, but with no success. In fact, you probably identify as having a 'black thumb'. Maybe you've tried to grow some plants in the past and failed. 2011, Robert Horsman, How to Garden: A Guide to Becoming a Gardener, →ISBN, page 7:
   • First of all, call me Sam; second, you should know I have a black thumb when it comes to anything other than cactus. 2008, Yvette M. Scholl, The Legacy, →ISBN, page 72:
2. (broadly) An inability to make animals or plants in one's care thrive.
   • In the interest of full disclosure, I am not now and never have been a big fan of keeping reptiles as pets; I have a “black thumb” when it comes to keeping animals alive in captivity. 2013, Aaron M. Bauer, Geckos: The Animal Answer Guide, →ISBN, page xiii:
   • Or that pet turtle the clerk in that exotic pet store had told her was unkillable. Hah. She had a black thumb. 2017, Erzabet Bishop, Mallory's Mark, →ISBN:
   • Before investing in a terrarium or aquarium, however, check your student for "Black Thumb Disease." Nothing is so depressing as to continually keep killing off plants or animals without knowing what's happening to them. 1977, Michigan State University Alumni Association Magazine:
3. A person with a black thumb.
   • "Why?" She smiled. "Especially on family occasions like this, he feels he's been something of a black thumb in the Garden of Life." 1966, John Leonard, Wyke Regis, page 269:
   • The original Black Thumb, she was. This ability to wither, it seemed to her, had begun to extend itself into her work, for the Majorov research had come to what, seemingly, was a dead end. 1986, Stuart Woods, Deep Lie, →ISBN:
   • “Anyway," she said, taking a deep breath and swiping a palm across her cheeks to remove the lingering moisture, "at the end of the day, I destroyed it. What's the opposite of green thumb? Black thumb? That's me.” 2017, Deb Kastner, Texas Christmas Twins, →ISBN:
4. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see black, thumb.

Forms

Antonyms

green thumb