Dictionary Definition
awkward adj
1 causing inconvenience; "they arrived at an
awkward time"
2 lacking grace or skill in manner or movement or
performance; "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]
3 difficult to handle or manage especially
because of shape; "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]
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]
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]
6 not at ease socially; 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(p), uneasy]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
Adjective
Synonyms
Translations
wanting dexterity in the use of the hands
- Finnish: kömpelö
- German: ungeschickt, unbeholfen, tölpelhaft, patschert (Austrian)
- Icelandic: klunnalegur
- Japanese: 不器用な (bukiyō na)
- Norwegian: klumsete, klønete
- Portuguese: desajeitado, bisonho
not easily managed or effected; embarrassing
- Finnish: vaikea, hankala, kiusallinen
- German: unhandlich, umständlich, patschert (Austrian)
- Icelandic: vandræðalegur, pínlegur
- Japanese: ぎごちない (gigochinai)
- Norwegian: pinlig
- Portuguese: constrangedor
perverse; adverse; untoward
- Finnish: tuskallinen, vastenmielinen, yököttävä, piinallinen
- German: peinlich, misslich, unangenehm
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Latinate, all thumbs, blankminded, blunderheaded, blundering, bombastic, boorish, bulky, bumbling, bungling, butterfingered, callow, careless, clownish, clumsy, clumsy-fisted, confused, contrary, cramped, crosswise, crushing, cumbersome, cumbrous, dangerous, delicate, difficult, discomfited, discommodious, disconcerted, disconcerting, disturbing, dumb, elephantine, embarrassed, embarrassing, empty, empty-headed, fingers all
thumbs, forced, formal, fumbling, gauche, gawkish, gawky, graceless, green, groping, guinde, halting, ham-fisted, ham-handed,
hazardous, heavy, heavy-handed, hulking, hulky, humiliating, ignorant, ill at ease,
ill-chosen, impractical, inane, incommodious, inconvenient, inefficient, inelegant, inept, inexperienced, inexpert, inkhorn, innocent, know-nothing,
labored, leaden, left-hand, left-handed,
loutish, lubberly, lumbering, lumpish, lumpy, maladroit, massive, massy, mortifying, naive, nescient, oafish, out of place, perilous, perverse, pompous, ponderous, precarious, raw, rigid, risky, sensitive, sesquipedalian, shamefaced, simple, sloppy, splay, sticky, stiff, stilted, strange to, tentative, ticklish, touchy, tricky, troublesome, trying, turgid, unacquainted, unapprized, uncomfortable, uncomprehending,
unconversant,
uncouth, undexterous, uneasy, unenlightened, unfamiliar, unfortunate, ungainly, ungraceful, unhandy, unhappy, unilluminated, uninformed, uninitiated, unintelligent, unknowing, unmanageable, unpleasant, unposted, unripe, unskilled, unskillful, unsure, unversed, unwieldy, vacuous, wooden