| 释义 |
ˈawkwardness
[f. as prec. + -ness.]
†1. Untowardness, perversity. Obs.
1674N. Fairfax Bulk & Selv. 189 And to pitch upon two or more best times, for a thing to begin in, is to pitch upon one of the worser kinds of awkwardness.
2. Lack of skill or dexterity; clumsiness.
a1770Miss Talbot Lett. etc. (1808) 21 With all my awkwardness of making speeches. 1848Lytton Harold iv. iv, Tostig laughed scornfully at Harold's awkwardness.
3. Awkward manner or appearance; lack of ease and grace; inelegance.
1704Addison Italy (1733) 37 A kind of aukwardness in the Italians. 1767Fordyce Serm. Yng. Wom. I. iii. 89 The aukwardness that is apt to adhere to young persons who are confined at home. 1815Scott Guy M. iii, A voice whose harshness corresponded with the awkwardness of his figure.
4. Awkward circumstance or feeling; inconvenience, embarrassment, unpleasantness.
1788Pitt in G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 85 The awkwardness of having Sir Joseph Yorke the companion of his honours. 1837J. H. Newman Par. Serm. I. xii. 155 They feel the painfulness of rebuking another, and..the awkwardness of it. 1883Black Shandon B. xxvii, [Her] pleasant humour..dispersed these awkwardnesses. |