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gawky

adjective · noun

Simple meaning

Awkward, ungainly; lacking grace or dexterity in movement.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

gawkee

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈɡɔki

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.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

adjective

  1. Awkward, ungainly; lacking grace or dexterity in movement.

noun

  1. An awkward, ungainly person.

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: Awkward, ungainly; lacking grace or dexterity in movement.

Used this way, gawky is a reasonably familiar word with a faintly unfavourable edge. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Slightly negative
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Moderate
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Critical or judgemental
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Nearby words

  • clunky , more casual, better suited to speech than writing

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

gawky girlgawky boygawky youthgawky kidgawky teenagergawky adolescentrather gawkygawky child

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • ungainly

    Clumsy; lacking grace.

  • awkward

    Lacking grace or skill in manner or movement or performance.

  • unwieldy

    Ungraceful in movement.

  • clunky

    Ungainly; awkward; inelegant; cumbersome.

  • clumsy

    Awkward, lacking coordination, not graceful, not dextrous.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • gawkernounPerson or profession

    A spectator who stares stupidly without intelligent awareness.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

adjective

Sense: awkward or ungainly

awkwardclumsyclunkyInformalungainlyunwieldyArchaic

noun

Sense: awkward or ungainly person

ungainlyawkward

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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.