awkward
1. causing inconvenience (Freq. 6)
- they arrived at an awkward time
• Similar to:
inconvenient
2. lacking grace or skill in manner or movement or performance (Freq. 2)
- an awkward dancer
- an awkward gesture
- too awkward with a needle to make her own clothes
- his clumsy fingers produced an awkward knot
• Ant:
graceful
• Similar to:
gawky, clumsy, clunky, ungainly, unwieldy,
graceless, ungraceful, labored, laboured, strained, wooden
• See Also:
maladroit, ugly
• Derivationally related forms:
awkwardness
3. difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape (Freq. 1)
- an awkward bundle to carry
- a load of bunglesome paraphernalia
- clumsy wooden shoes
- the cello, a rather ungainly instrument for a girl
• Syn:
bunglesome, clumsy, ungainly
• Similar to:
unwieldy, unmanageable
• Derivationally related forms:
awkwardness
4. not elegant or graceful in expression
- an awkward prose style
- a clumsy apology
- his cumbersome writing style
- if the rumor is true, can anything be more inept than to repeat it now?
• Syn:
clumsy, cumbersome, inapt, inept, ill-chosen
• Similar to:
infelicitous
• Derivationally related forms:
ineptness (for: inept), inaptness (for: inapt), clumsiness (for: clumsy), awkwardness
5. hard to deal with;
especially causing pain or embarrassment
- awkward (or embarrassing or difficult) moments in the discussion
- an awkward pause followed his remark
- a sticky question
- in the unenviable position of resorting to an act he had planned to save for the climax of the campaign
• Syn:
embarrassing, sticky, unenviable
• Similar to:
difficult, hard
• Derivationally related forms:
awkwardness
6. socially uncomfortable;
unsure and constrained in manner
- awkward and reserved at parties
- ill at ease among eddies of people he didn't know
- was always uneasy with strangers
• Syn:
ill at ease, uneasy
• Similar to:
uncomfortable
• Derivationally related forms:
uneasiness (for: uneasy), awkwardness
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