1
as in clumsily
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2
as in ungracefully
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Recent Examples of awkwardly
Gomez landed awkwardly on his right knee in the first half of Brighton’s 2-2 draw against Tottenham.
—
Felipe Cardenas, New York Times, 1 June 2026
In a video posted on social media by Boston reporter Marlee Wierda, Stevenson's left leg can be seen bending awkwardly as Rife lost his balance trying to run to second base during the rundown.
—Joe Kinsey Outkick, FOXNews.com, 1 June 2026
But Baptiste was forced to retire during her second-round singles against Wang Xiyu on Wednesday after landing awkwardly on her left leg late in the first set.
—ABC News, 28 May 2026
George landed awkwardly and limped to the dugout in obvious pain, slamming his helmet to the ground.
—Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 28 May 2026
The home, GameChat, and screenshot buttons are placed awkwardly, and not everyone will dig the design or the gritty texture on the grips.
—Cameron Faulkner, The Verge, 28 May 2026
Not that romance, here, means anything beyond hand-holding and giggling while awkwardly staring into each other’s eyes.
—Beatrice Loayza, Variety, 25 May 2026
The feast opens with a shiso leaf bearing a geometric cube of o-toro, dramatic and a little awkwardly large, and concludes with a cup of tangy soft serve, petite and satisfying.
—Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 24 May 2026
Both are racing, slightly awkwardly, toward each other's half of the market.
—Gabriel Alin Zainescu, Forbes.com, 23 May 2026
Felipe Cardenas, New York Times, 1 June 2026
In a video posted on social media by Boston reporter Marlee Wierda, Stevenson's left leg can be seen bending awkwardly as Rife lost his balance trying to run to second base during the rundown.
—Joe Kinsey Outkick, FOXNews.com, 1 June 2026
But Baptiste was forced to retire during her second-round singles against Wang Xiyu on Wednesday after landing awkwardly on her left leg late in the first set.
—ABC News, 28 May 2026
George landed awkwardly and limped to the dugout in obvious pain, slamming his helmet to the ground.
—Bill Plunkett, Oc Register, 28 May 2026
The home, GameChat, and screenshot buttons are placed awkwardly, and not everyone will dig the design or the gritty texture on the grips.
—Cameron Faulkner, The Verge, 28 May 2026
Not that romance, here, means anything beyond hand-holding and giggling while awkwardly staring into each other’s eyes.
—Beatrice Loayza, Variety, 25 May 2026
The feast opens with a shiso leaf bearing a geometric cube of o-toro, dramatic and a little awkwardly large, and concludes with a cup of tangy soft serve, petite and satisfying.
—Helen Rosner, New Yorker, 24 May 2026
Both are racing, slightly awkwardly, toward each other's half of the market.
—Gabriel Alin Zainescu, Forbes.com, 23 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for awkwardly
Adverb
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Social-media platforms are filled with short-form videos that clumsily grapple with stigmas surrounding height supremacy.—
Brady Brickner-Wood,
New Yorker,
4 June 2026
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What was being clumsily promoted was a potentially transformative piece of technology — a way to evaluate player performance, in tune with an algorithm that had been taught to think like Capello himself.—
Jack Pitt-Brooke,
New York Times,
2 June 2026
Adverb
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The collapse of the Constitution’s balance of powers between three branches of government got us into an unneeded war conducted ineptly.—
Edward Lotterman,
Twin Cities,
15 Mar. 2026
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Dancing the Poznan really ineptly, mind you, but dancing nonetheless.—
Chris Willman,
Variety,
8 Sep. 2025
Adverb
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This decision unfortunately led to more jokes and tongue planted firmly in cheek (akin to the slapstick reshooting of Superman II by Richard Lester for a more child-appealing and less ambitious approach than Richard Donner’s own Superman II footage before he was fired from the project).—
Mark Hughes,
Forbes.com,
31 May 2026
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This one, unfortunately, looks to be the bad version of that.—
Dan Zaksheske OutKick,
FOXNews.com,
31 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Awkwardly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/awkwardly. Accessed 6 Jun. 2026.
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