as in awkward
having or showing an inability to move in a graceful manner the kind of gawkish girl who trips while receiving her high school diploma

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for gawkish
Adjective
  • That’s six games without a goal now for their new striker, who still looks awkward in this side.
    Tim Spiers, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2025
  • The onion on top is a little awkward to cut and to eat, so think of this as a knife-and-fork cornbread.
    Ann Taylor Pittman, Southern Living, 5 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • Maggie is a snoop—and a clumsy one.
    Justin Chang, New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2025
  • But the character’s state of servitude is largely hidden in clumsy blocking.
    Frank Rizzo, Variety, 29 Sep. 2025
Adjective
  • House of Guinness tends to be wise about the ways both business and family are built over an unsteady and ever-changing series of negotiations for power and status.
    Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 25 Sep. 2025
  • What the map did not show was that few hikers attempt this route due to its exposure and the extra time, water, and stamina required of a lengthy and strenuous Class II scramble up and down a trio of ever-taller unnamed 13,000-foot mountains of loose talus and unsteady granite blocks.
    Ted Katauskas, Outside, 23 Sep. 2025
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.

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Cite this Entry

“Gawkish.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/gawkish. Accessed 8 Oct. 2025.

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