Awkward

//ˈɔːkwəd//

Synonyms for "awkward" (197 found)

Ranked by relevance and common usage.

Closest matches (40)

cumbersome clumsy embarrassing ill at ease inconvenient labored maladroit ungainly ungraceful wooden heavy handed affected all thumbs artless backwards bashful blankminded blunderheaded blundering bombastic

Show 15 more words

boorish bulky bumbling bunglesome bungling butterfingered callow careless clownish clumsy-fisted confused contrary cramped crosswise crushing

Adjective(3 words)

bunglesome clumsy cumbersome

Adjective(1 words)

clumsy

Slang(1 words)

cringe

Strong matches (59)

Related words (98)

know-nothing lame latinate leaden left handed left-hand left-handed loutish lubberly lumbering lumpish lumpy massive massy mortifying naive nasty nescient oafish out of place

Show 69 more words

Adjective(5 words)

lubberly maladroit recalcitrant ungraceful unhandy

Adjective(4 words)

sticky uneasy unenviable ungainly

Related word relations

OpenGloss and ConceptNet supply richer edges like generalizations, collocations, and derivations.

6 relation types

Antonyms

3 entries

cool dexterous graceful

Synonyms

6 entries

bunglesome clumsy cumbersome embarrassing ill at ease maladroit

derived

9 entries

awkward age awkward squad awkward turtle awkwardish awkwardly awkwardness awkweird awky unawkward

derived from

1 entries

awk

related to

11 entries

adverse backwards dexterity embarrassing handle maladroit manage perverse social ugly uncomfortable

similar

24 entries

clumsy clunky difficult gawky graceless hard inconvenient infelicitous labored laboured maladroit strained ugly uncomfortable

Showing 16 of 24 words.

Translations

164 translations across 39 languages.

Belarusian

3 entries

нехлямя́жы adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
нязгра́бны adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
няўклю́дны adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Bulgarian

4 entries

неловък adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
непохватен adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
неприятен adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
несръчен adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Catalan

4 entries

inconvenient adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
incòmode adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
incòmode adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
maldestre adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Chinese Mandarin

2 entries

別扭 /别扭 adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
尷尬 /尴尬 adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Czech

3 entries

neobratný adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
nepříjemný adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
nešikovný adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Danish

1 entries

akavet adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Dutch

3 entries

genant adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
ongemakkelijk adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
onhandig adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Esperanto

4 entries

konsterna adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
mallerta adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
maloportuna adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
plumpa adj (lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction)

Finnish

4 entries

hankala adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
hankala adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
kiusallinen adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
kömpelö adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

French

4 entries

embarrassant adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
gauche adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
inconvenant adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
maladroit adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

German

4 entries

Umstände machend adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
beklemmend adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
betreten adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
patschert adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Gothic

1 entries

𐌰𐌲𐌻𐍃 adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)

Greek

2 entries

αδέξιος adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
δύσκολος adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Hungarian

1 entries

kínos adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Icelandic

3 entries

klunnalegur adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
pínlegur adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
vandræðalegur adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Indonesian

4 entries

canggung adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
canggung adj (lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction)
kikuk adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
memalukan adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)

Irish

3 entries

anásta adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
ciotrúnta adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
crúbach adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Italian

4 entries

delicato adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
difficile adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
goffo adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
imbarazzante adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Japanese

4 entries

ぎごちない adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
不便な adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
不器用な adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
気まずい adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Korean

2 entries

서투르다 adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
어색하다 adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Latin

1 entries

inconcinnus adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Latvian

3 entries

neveikls adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
neveikls adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
neveikls adj (lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction)

Lithuanian

3 entries

nejaukus adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
nepatogus adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
nerangus adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Macedonian

4 entries

не́згоден adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
не́згоден adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
не́згоден adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
не́смасен adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Malay

1 entries

canggung adj (lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction)

Māori

2 entries

ninipa adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
tahangoi adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Norwegian

3 entries

klumsete adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
klønete adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
pinlig adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Norwegian Bokmål

1 entries

klein adj (lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction)

Persian

1 entries

ناجور adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Plautdietsch

1 entries

onjeschekjt adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Polish

2 entries

nieprzyjemny adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
nieśmiały adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)

Portuguese

4 entries

bisonho adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
constrangedor adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
desajeitado adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
desconcertante adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Romanian

2 entries

neîndemânatic adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
stângaci adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Russian

4 entries

затрудни́тельный adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
нело́вкий adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
нело́вкий adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
неудо́бный adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Spanish

4 entries

atravesado adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
delicado adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
desgarbado adj (lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction)
desgarbilado adj (lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction)

Swedish

4 entries

genant adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
pinsam adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
stel adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
stel adj (lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction)

Tagalog

2 entries

asiwa adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
matungal adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Turkish

4 entries

beceriksiz adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
garip adj (perverse; adverse; untoward)
kullanışsız adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)
sakar adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)

Ukrainian

2 entries

незгра́бний adj (lacking dexterity in the use of the hands)
незручни́й adj (not easily managed or effected; embarrassing)

Sample sentences

21 total sentences available.

Tatoeba + Wiktionary

After an awkward pause, Bill took her by the hand and dragged her upstairs.

Source: tatoeba (20376)

I felt very awkward.

Source: tatoeba (37855)

No one can say for sure how this awkward state of affairs came about.

Source: tatoeba (56632)

The movements of this robot are awkward.

Source: tatoeba (60322)

Showing 4 of 21 available sentences.

More for "awkward"

Meaning Antonyms Sentences Word Type

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.