 awkward |
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| 1. | [ adjective ] causing inconvenience | |
| Examples: | "they arrived at an awkward time" |
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| Related terms: | inconvenient | |
| 2. | [ adjective ] lacking grace or skill in manner or movement or performance | |
| Examples: | "an awkward dancer" "an awkward gesture" "too awkward with a needle to make her own clothes" "his clumsy fingers produced an awkward knot" |
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| Related terms: | graceful gawky labored graceless wooden ugly maladroit | |
| 3. | [ adjective ] difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape | |
| Synonyms: | clumsy ungainly bunglesome | |
| Examples: | "an awkward bundle to carry" "a load of bunglesome paraphernalia" "clumsy wooden shoes" "the cello, a rather ungainly instrument for a girl" |
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| Related terms: | unwieldy | |
| 4. | [ adjective ] not elegant or graceful in expression | |
| Synonyms: | inept clumsy ill-chosen inapt cumbersome | |
| Examples: | "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?" |
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| Related terms: | infelicitous | |
| 5. | [ adjective ] hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment | |
| Synonyms: | embarrassing unenviable sticky | |
| Examples: | "awkward (or embarrassing or difficult) moments in the discussion" "an awkward pause followed his remark" "a sticky question" "in an unenviable position" |
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| Related terms: | difficult | |
| 6. | [ adjective ] not elegant or graceful in expression | |
| Synonyms: | clumsy inept inapt ill-chosen cumbersome | |
| Examples: | "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?" |
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| Related terms: | infelicitous | |
| 7. | [ adjective ] not at ease socially; unsure and constrained in manner | |
| Synonyms: | uneasy ill_at_ease | |
| Examples: | "awkward and reserved at parties" "ill at ease among eddies of people he didn't know" "was always uneasy with strangers" |
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| Related terms: | uncomfortable | |
| Similar spelling: |
awkwardly |
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