adj. 1
Lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments.
John was awkward at performing the trick. He'll have to practice to improve.
adj. 2
Lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction.
I'm very awkward at parties.
adj. 3
Not easily managed or effected; embarrassing.
An awkward silence had fallen.
adj. 4
Perverse; adverse; difficult to handle.
He's a right awkward chap.

Related words

Word family: awkwardly awkwardness

From weakest to strongest

From the opposite of awkward, on the left, to its strongest synonyms, on the right.

Choose the right word

Awkward, Awk, Off, Off-Ward or Clumsy?

Awkward, from awk (kindred with off, from the Norwegian), is off-ward, turned the wrong way; it was anciently used of a back-handed or left-handed blow in battle, of squinting eyes, etc. Thus, awkward primarily refers to action, clumsy to condition.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

clumsy Her movements were awkward and her gesture clumsy.
cumbersome Why did we get a washbasin? It's so cumbersome!
ungainly Very tall people can often be ungainly.
strained Yanni and Skura have a very strained relationship.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
awkward		rising
clumsy		rising
cumbersome		steady
ungainly		rising
gawky		rising
strained		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: rude¹
5 letters: rough¹, stiff¹, inept², gawky², inapt
6 letters: wooden², sticky², uneasy³, clumsy², gauche¹
7 letters: labored², stilted², uncouth², boorish²
8 letters: strained¹, unwieldy³, laboured, ungainly³, clownish
9 letters: difficult³, inelegant, graceless², maladroit³
10 letters: cumbersome³, unpolished, unenviable⁵, ungraceful
12 letters: embarrassing⁴, inconvenient⁴, unmanageable⁵, recalcitrant⁴, cantankerous⁴
13 letters: uncomfortable⁵

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (inept² = 2 syllables).