awkward - Definition | Dictionary definition of awkward

Definition of awkward

causing inconvenience

"they arrived at an awkward time"

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"

Synonyms:: maladroit
not adroit; ugly
displeasing to the senses; clumsy, clunky, gawky, ungainly, unwieldy
lacking grace in movement or posture; graceless, ungraceful
lacking grace; clumsy; labored, laboured, strained
lacking natural ease; wooden
lacking ease or grace

Antonyms:: graceful
characterized by beauty of movement, style, form, or execution; beautiful
delighting the senses or exciting intellectual or emotional admiration; elegant
refined and tasteful in appearance or behavior or style; fluent, fluid, liquid, smooth
smooth and unconstrained in movement; gainly
graceful and pleasing; gracile, willowy
slender and graceful; lissom, lissome, lithe, lithesome, slender, supple, svelte, sylphlike
moving and bending with ease; show more antonyms...

difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape

"an awkward bundle to carry"

Synonyms:: bunglesome, clumsy, ungainly; unmanageable, unwieldy
difficult to use or handle or manage because of size or weight or shape

not elegant or graceful in expression

"an awkward prose style"

Synonyms:: clumsy, cumbersome, ill-chosen, inapt, inept; infelicitous
not appropriate in application; defective

hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment

"awkward (or embarrassing or difficult) moments in the discussion"

"an awkward pause followed his remark"

Synonyms:: embarrassing, sticky, unenviable; difficult, hard
not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

socially uncomfortable; unsure and constrained in manner

"awkward and reserved at parties"

Synonyms:: ill at ease, uneasy; uncomfortable
conducive to or feeling mental discomfort