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Noun: awkwardness  ok-wurd-nus [N. Amer], ok-wûd-nus [Brit]
  1. Unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training
    - clumsiness, ineptness, ineptitude, maladroitness, slowness, cack-handedness [Brit, informal]
     
  2. The quality of an embarrassing situation
    "he sensed the awkwardness of his proposal";
    - nuisance value
     
  3. The carriage of someone whose movements and posture are ungainly or inelegant
    - clumsiness
     
  4. The inelegance of someone stiff and unrelaxed (as by embarrassment)
    - clumsiness, gracelessness, stiffness
     
  5. Trouble in carrying or managing caused by bulk or shape
    "the movers cursed the awkwardness of the big piano";
    - cumbersomeness, unwieldiness

Type of: bearing, carriage, disadvantage, inconvenience, inelegance, posture, troublesomeness, unskilfulness [Brit, Cdn], unskillfulness [N. Amer], worriment [US, informal]

Encyclopedia: Awkwardness