awkwardness
nounEtymology From awkward + -ness.
1
Usually The state or quality of being awkward; clumsiness; unskillfulness.
- […] instead of the joyous voices of his playfellows he hears the rough commands of an unindulgent master or a scolding mistress; — he is continually reproached for his awkwardness and timidity, and reminded of his pauper origin.1849, Minutes of the committee of council on education, page 82:
2
Usually The quality of an embarrassing situation.
- Synonyms
- clunkiness, clumsiness, discomfiture, ineptness, ineptitude, inelegance
- Derived terms
- awkwardnessful
- Related terms
- awkwardly