awkward
adjective · noun
Simple meaning
Lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
ahkwerdSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɑkwɚd
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction.
Lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments.
Not easily managed or effected; embarrassing.
Perverse; adverse; difficult to handle.
noun
Someone or something that is awkward.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced
- Frequency
- Moderately Common
- Typical Use
- Neutral / general English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction.
Used this way, awkward is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Nearby words
- gawky , rarer, so it draws attention
- ungraceful , more casual, better suited to speech than writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use awkward
- “He felt awkward when he accidentally tripped in front of everyone.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
adjective
Sense: lacking social skills or or uncomfortable with social interaction
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.