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Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective awkward contrast with its synonyms?

Some common synonyms of awkward are clumsy, gauche, inept, and maladroit. While all these words mean "not marked by ease (as of performance, movement, or social conduct)," awkward is widely applicable and may suggest unhandiness, inconvenience, lack of muscular control, embarrassment, or lack of tact.

periods of awkward silence

In what contexts can clumsy take the place of awkward?

While the synonyms clumsy and awkward are close in meaning, clumsy implies stiffness and heaviness and so may connote inflexibility, unwieldiness, or lack of ordinary skill.

a clumsy mechanic

When would gauche be a good substitute for awkward?

In some situations, the words gauche and awkward are roughly equivalent. However, gauche implies the effects of shyness, inexperience, or ill breeding.

felt gauche and unsophisticated at formal parties

When might inept be a better fit than awkward?

The words inept and awkward are synonyms, but do differ in nuance. Specifically, inept often implies complete failure or inadequacy.

a hopelessly inept defense attorney

When could maladroit be used to replace awkward?

The meanings of maladroit and awkward largely overlap; however, maladroit suggests a tendency to create awkward situations.

a maladroit politician

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of awkward To get screened for cervical cancer, patients in the United States may no longer need to put their feet in those awkward stirrups, brace for the uncomfortable speculum or even take the time off from work for an in-person doctor’s appointment. Jacqueline Howard, CNN Money, 9 May 2025 Meet Craig Waterman, the world’s most socially awkward suburbanite. David Fear, Rolling Stone, 8 May 2025 Likewise, there’s enough room between the seats to avoid those awkward shoulder rubs. Matthew MacConnell, Forbes.com, 8 May 2025 Bill Belichick’s daughter-in-law seems none too pleased with his girlfriend Jordon Hudson, shading the 24-year-old for her behavior during the Super Bowl winner’s awkward new CBS interview as former Patriots Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski defended Hudson. Jami Ganz, New York Daily News, 1 May 2025 See All Example Sentences for awkward
Recent Examples of Synonyms for awkward
Adjective
  • Alexander Skarsgard’s tendency is toward characters who maintain the unavoidable aspect of beauty, but are uncomfortable looking like Alexander Skarsgard, or work to hide their beauty under buckets of blood or threats of abuse.
    Daniel Fienberg, HollywoodReporter, 12 May 2025
  • What’s undeniable is that the sight of someone who has contributed so much to Liverpool’s success in the modern era being subjected to such treatment on Sunday was deeply uncomfortable.
    James Pearce, New York Times, 12 May 2025
Adjective
  • Where the real Colin and Emma have trouble getting much further than a clumsy hug after a putt-putt date, some of the acting couples have increased their intimacy levels with breathtaking speed.
    Scott Tobias, Vulture, 12 May 2025
  • Word's document comparison interface is also clumsy and confusing compared with FineReader's.
    PC Magazine, PC Magazine, 30 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Ventura spent more than 20 hours recounting to Southern District of New York prosecutors and Combs’ attorneys embarrassing and graphic details about freak-offs that allegedly began early on in the R&B singer’s romance with her older Bad Boy Records label boss.
    Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 18 May 2025
  • Their latest sham impeachment charade against President Trump is another embarrassing political stunt.
    Peter Aitken, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 May 2025
Adjective
  • But if Hereditary and Midsommar got under the skin with genuinely scary storytelling and startling imagery and Beau is Afraid was equal parts squirmy and maddening, Eddington is just annoying and empty.
    David Rooney, HollywoodReporter, 16 May 2025
  • Really, there’s these human traffic jams, so it’s become quite annoying.
    Ari Daniel, Smithsonian Magazine, 15 May 2025
Adjective
  • The development partnership, the Vets Collective, relied on tax credit financing, a cumbersome process that not only can add years to a project but also only funds housing.
    Doug Smith, Los Angeles Times, 15 May 2025
  • My cumbersome climbing gear rests, along with everyone else’s, on a tarp.
    Michael Ray Taylor, Smithsonian Magazine, 14 May 2025
Adjective
  • Not only that, but he was being fed an unsteady diet of cockroaches.
    Charlie Mason, TVLine, 4 May 2025
  • His unsteady performance has left markets lurching from one crisis to another, and his contempt for tradition continues to rattle both Washington institutionalists and Wall Street investors.
    Philip Elliott, Time, 30 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Today, hydrogen bombs have replaced atom bombs in most arsenals, creating a world of uneasy standoffs among nuclear foes.
    William J. Broad, New York Times, 19 May 2025
  • With the rage virus still raging, a group of survivors, including a husband and wife played by Jodie Comer and Aaron Taylor-Johnson, lives in uneasy isolation on a fortified island — until one of them crosses the causeway into whatever’s left of the mainland.
    Greg Braxton, Los Angeles Times, 16 May 2025
Adjective
  • Best Smelling Photograph: Kristin Canning Grand Tongo Green Tea + Mint Insect Repellent $15 Amazon After testing nearly 20 different bug sprays (that pretty much all smelled at least a little unpleasant and chemical-y), this picaridin spray from Grand Tongo truly blew me away.
    Kristin Canning, Wired News, 21 May 2025
  • Today after dropping off groceries, my wife noted that the refrigerator, in her opinion, had an unpleasant odor.
    Eric Thomas, The Orlando Sentinel, 20 May 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Awkward.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/awkward. Accessed 25 May. 2025.

More from Merriam-Webster on awkward

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