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say it: AH-kwurd
awkward is an adjective meaning "causing inconvenience". It is pronounced /ˈɑkwɚd/ — AH-kwurd. It carries 6 recorded senses.
difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape
“an awkward bundle to carry”
“a load of bunglesome paraphernalia”
“clumsy wooden shoes”
“the cello, a rather ungainly instrument for a girl”
not elegant or graceful in expression
“an awkward prose style”
“a clumsy apology”
“his cumbersome writing style”
“if the rumor is true, can anything be more inept than to repeat it now?”
hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment
“awkward (or embarrassing or difficult) moments in the discussion”
“an awkward pause followed his remark”
“a sticky question”
“in the unenviable position of resorting to an act he had planned to save for the climax of the campaign”
socially uncomfortable; unsure and constrained in manner
“awkward and reserved at parties”
“ill at ease among eddies of people he didn't know”
“was always uneasy with strangers”
Forms marked · are formed by the regular rule rather than recorded in the source data. English keeps a few hundred irregulars and the rest follow the pattern, so the rule is right far more often than not — but it is a rule, and the mark says so.
Definitions, synonyms and semantic relations for awkward come from Princeton University’s WordNet. The pronunciation comes from the CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. Commonness is measured against a corpus of everyday English. Full sources and licences.