Systems and methods are described for adaptively recognizing gestures indicated by user inputs received from a touchpad, touchscreen, directional pad, mouse or other multi-directional input device. If a user's movement does not indicate a gesture using current gesture recognition parameters, additional processing can be performed to recognize the gesture using other factors. The gesture recognition parameters can then be adapted so that subsequent user inputs that are similar to the previously-rejected inputs will appropriately trigger gesture commands as desired by the user. Gestural data or parameters may be locally or remotely stored for further processing.