awkward
pronunciation
How to pronounce awkward in British English:
UK [ˈɔːkwəd]
How to pronounce awkward in American English:
US [ˈɔːkwərd]
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- Adjective:
- causing inconvenience
- lacking grace or skill in manner or movement or performance
- difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape
- not elegant or graceful in expression
- hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment
- not at ease socially; unsure and constrained in manner
Word Origin
- awkward
- awkward: [14] When awkward was coined, in Scotland and northern England, it meant ‘turned in the wrong direction’. Middle English had an adjective awk, which meant ‘the wrong way round, backhanded’, and hence ‘perverse’, and with the addition of the suffix -ward this became awkward. Awk itself was adopted from Old Norse afugr, which is related to German ab ‘away’ and English off. Awkward followed a similar semantic path to awk, via ‘perverse, illadapted’ to ‘clumsy’.=> off
- awkward (adj.)
- mid-14c., "in the wrong direction," from awk "back-handed" + adverbial suffix -weard (see -ward). Meaning "clumsy" first recorded 1520s. Related: Awkwardly. Other formations from awk, none of them surviving, were awky, awkly, awkness.
Synonym
Example
- 1. What has been your most awkward interview ?
- 2. Third and most awkward , a referendum will have to approve iceland 's eu membership .
- 3. The credit crunch has raised three genuinely awkward questions .
- 4. The politics of the discovery are awkward , however .
- 5. The novel does contain some awkward phrasing .