Arms Akimbo is About Dominance

With only those two phrases, it could be difficult to decipher what exactly "arms akimbo" signifies. But imagine someone who has their hands on their hips, their elbows out, and their thumbs facing back. This is known as the arms akimbo position, and if someone is holding their arms in that position while speaking to you, they likely feel relatively in control of the situation.

Joe Navarro, a body language expert with 50 years of experience studying the science of body language, including 25 years spent with the FBI detecting spies, says that the arms are up. This is a posture of domination. Someone who stands with their arms crossed signals to you that they are engaged in the conversation, are paying attention, and most likely have a topic of conversational interest.

Navarro used his knowledge of body language to ascertain which inquiries made suspected feel uneasy and even whether a person was an international spy. We all frequently enter and exit these patterns of body language, making them easy to miss, but if you know what to look for, they may be quite useful for giving you information.

With a simple hand motion, the arms-akimbo position can be quickly changed from trying to be dominant to being curious and inquiring. If the thumbs are out and the fingers are back, you are now more interested and curious about what is happening than you were before.