Synonyms for awkward

Synonyms for (adj) awkward

Synonyms: uneasy, awkward, ill at ease

Definition: socially uncomfortable; unsure and constrained in manner

Usage: awkward and reserved at parties; ill at ease among eddies of people he didn't know; was always uneasy with strangers

Similar words: uncomfortable

Definition: conducive to or feeling mental discomfort

Usage: this kind of life can prove disruptive and uncomfortable; the uncomfortable truth; grew uncomfortable beneath his appraising eye; an uncomfortable way of surprising me just when I felt surest; the teacher's presence at the conference made the child very uncomfortable


Synonyms: awkward

Definition: causing inconvenience

Usage: they arrived at an awkward time

Similar words: inconvenient

Definition: not suited to your comfort, purpose or needs

Usage: it is inconvenient not to have a telephone in the kitchen; the back hall is an inconvenient place for the telephone


Synonyms: awkward, unenviable, sticky, embarrassing

Definition: hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment

Usage: awkward (or embarrassing or difficult) moments in the discussion; an awkward pause followed his remark; a sticky question; in the unenviable position of resorting to an act he had planned to save for the climax of the campaign

Similar words: difficult, hard

Definition: not easy; requiring great physical or mental effort to accomplish or comprehend or endure

Usage: a difficult task; nesting places on the cliffs are difficult of access; difficult times; why is it so hard for you to keep a secret?


Synonyms: inept, ill-chosen, inapt, cumbersome, awkward, clumsy

Definition: not elegant or graceful in expression

Usage: 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?

Similar words: infelicitous

Definition: not appropriate in application; defective

Usage: an infelicitous remark; infelicitous phrasing; the infelicitous typesetting was due to illegible copy


Synonyms: awkward

Definition: lacking grace or skill in manner or movement or performance

Usage: an awkward dancer; an awkward gesture; too awkward with a needle to make her own clothes; his clumsy fingers produced an awkward knot

Similar words: ungainly, unwieldy, clumsy, clunky, gawky

Definition: lacking grace in movement or posture

Usage: a gawky lad with long ungainly legs; clumsy fingers; what an ungainly creature a giraffe is; heaved his unwieldy figure out of his chair


Similar words: ungraceful, graceless

Definition: lacking grace; clumsy

Usage: a graceless production of the play; his stature low...his bearing ungraceful- Sir Walter Scott


Similar words: strained, labored, laboured

Definition: lacking natural ease

Usage: a labored style of debating


Similar words: wooden

Definition: lacking ease or grace

Usage: the actor's performance was wooden; a wooden smile


Synonyms: ungainly, bunglesome, clumsy, awkward

Definition: difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape

Usage: an awkward bundle to carry; a load of bunglesome paraphernalia; clumsy wooden shoes; the cello, a rather ungainly instrument for a girl

Similar words: unwieldy, unmanageable

Definition: difficult to use or handle or manage because of size or weight or shape

Usage: we set about towing the unwieldy structure into the shelter; almost dropped the unwieldy parcel


Visual thesaurus for awkward