Cycling gloves for road racing or touring are usually fingerless. Cigarette smokers and church organists sometimes use fingerless gloves. Fingerless gloves are useful where dexterity is required that gloves would restrict. If there is an opening but no (or a short) covering sheath for each finger they are called fingerless gloves.

However, the gloves themselves can leave prints that are just as unique as human fingerprints. Many criminals wear gloves to avoid leaving fingerprints, which makes the crime investigation more difficult. Police officers often wear them to work in crime scenes to prevent destroying evidence in the scene. Latex, nitrile rubber or vinyl disposable gloves are often worn by health care professionals as hygiene and contamination protection measures.

Gloves and gauntlets are integral components of pressure suits and spacesuits. Gloves of kevlar protect the wearer from cuts. Gloves are made of materials including cloth, knitted or felted wool, leather, rubber, latex, neoprene, silk, and (in mail) metal. Gloves protect and comfort hands against cold or heat, damage by friction, abrasion or chemicals, and disease or in turn to provide a guard for what a bare hand should not touch.

Gloves extending past the wrist are called gauntlets. A glove is a garment covering the hand, with separate sheaths or openings for each finger and the thumb.

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