lacking grace or ease in movement: an awkward gesture;an awkward dancer.
lacking social graces or manners: a simple, awkward frontiersman.
not well planned or designed for easy or effective use: an awkward instrument;an awkward method.
requiring caution; somewhat hazardous: an awkward turn in the road.
hard to deal with; difficult; requiring skill, tact, or the like: an awkward situation;an awkward customer.
embarrassing or inconvenient; caused by lack of social grace: an awkward moment.
Obsolete. untoward; perverse.
Origin of awkward
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English, equivalent to awk(e), auk(e) “backhanded,” (unattested) Old English afoc (from Old Norse ǫfugr “turned the wrong way, backwards”; cognate with Old Saxon, Old High German abuh “wrong, bad,” Old English afu(h)lic “perverse”) + -ward suffix denoting direction; see origin at off, -ward
It’s the first time I’ve read a book where every sentence is cowritten, and it didn’t feel awkward at all.
The best things I bought in September to make working and living at home easier|Rachel Schallom|September 27, 2020|Fortune
The painful consequence of that will be a clunky, suboptimal transposition of the physical to the virtual, right down—one fears—to an awkward videoconference cocktail hour.
Can the corporate ‘offsite’ survive COVID?|matthewheimer|September 24, 2020|Fortune
You can also stretch one app across both screens, but it’s unsightly and awkward to have your content sliced down the middle with a big blank bar.
Review of the Microsoft Surface Duo folding phone: Very pretty but just how useful is it?|Aaron Pressman|September 10, 2020|Fortune
The latest service disruptions come at an awkward time for Robinhood.
Robinhood app stumbles amid surge in Apple, Tesla trading volume|Jeff|September 1, 2020|Fortune
Except that it’ll be rooted in awkward, funny and compelling reality.
How Michaela Coel Tells Awkward Truths|Eromo Egbejule|August 30, 2020|Ozy
Some immediately treated the young rapper as a punchline, turning his awkward posture in the photo into a meme.
Bobby Shmurda and Rap’s Ultimate Hoop Dream|Rawiya Kameir|December 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He sketched it quickly, his hand trembling, giving the drawing an awkward, palsied look.
Alfred Hitchcock’s Fade to Black: The Great Director’s Final Days|David Freeman|December 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST
ME3M was like online sex without the sex: seedy, dehumanized, segmented, and awkward—yet often still erotic.
Sneer and Clothing in Miami: Inside The $3 Billion Woodstock of Contemporary Art|Jay Michaelson|December 6, 2014|DAILY BEAST
He entered in an awkward alliance with Lapid to join the government but quickly distanced himself from it.
Goodbye to Israel’s Lousy Government (Let’s Hope the Next One Isn’t Worse)|Alon Ben-Meir|December 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The Hangover star, currently in the critically acclaimed Birdman, certainly knows how to bring the funny as well as the awkward.
Brad Pitt and Louis C.K. Go ‘Between Two Ferns’|Alex Chancey, The Daily Beast Video|October 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The position was an awkward one, and Winthrope weighed thirty or forty pounds more than Miss Leslie.
Into the Primitive|Robert Ames Bennet
She thought it was because she was so plain and awkward—and in part it was.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1909 to 1922|Lucy Maud Montgomery
Attempting to remount, I was as stiff and awkward as an octogenarian, and my restive mule would not stand for a moment.
The Secret Service.|Albert D. Richardson
She said it with an awkward flush; for Dick caught her eye as she spoke, and read her inner meaning.
Blood Royal|Grant Allen
Experience proves that an awkward ungainly style of shooting is very seldom successful.
The Theory and Practice of Archery|Horace Ford
British Dictionary definitions for awkward
awkward
/ (ˈɔːkwəd) /
adjective
lacking dexterity, proficiency, or skill; clumsy; ineptthe new recruits were awkward in their exercises
ungainly or inelegant in movements or posturedespite a great deal of practice she remained an awkward dancer
unwieldy; difficult to usean awkward implement
embarrassingan awkward moment
embarrassedhe felt awkward about leaving
difficult to deal with; requiring tactan awkward situation; an awkward customer
deliberately uncooperative or unhelpfulhe could help but he is being awkward
dangerous or difficultan awkward ascent of the ridge
obsoleteperverse
Derived forms of awkward
awkwardly, adverbawkwardness, noun
Word Origin for awkward
C14 awk, from Old Norse öfugr turned the wrong way round + -ward