awkwardnessn.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > harm or detriment > disadvantage > [noun] > unfavourable character
contrariositya1340
badness1539
iniquity?c1550
naughtiness1550
thrawardness1567
perverseness1578
crossness1641
awkwardness1674
unhappiness1704
unpropitiousness1756
unfavourableness1765
untowardness1779
contrariousness1853
1674 N. Fairfax Treat. Bulk & Selvedge 189 And to pitch upon two or more best times, for a thing to begin in, is to pitch upon one of the worser kinds of awkwardness.
2. Lack of skill or dexterity; clumsiness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > ability > inability > unskilfulness > [noun] > clumsiness or awkwardness
bungerliness1598
lubberliness1598
indexterity1611
sinisterity1623
clumsiness1652
ungainness1727
ungainliness1755
awkwardnessa1770
maladroitness1781
ponderousness1801
lumberingness1869
gawkihood1872
gawkiness1873
klutziness1973
a1770 C. Talbot Lett. Mrs. E. Carter & Miss C. Talbot (1808) 21 With all my awkwardness of making speeches.
1848 E. Bulwer-Lytton Harold II. v. iv. 37 Tostig laughed scornfully at Harold's awkwardness.
3. Awkward manner or appearance; lack of ease and grace; inelegance.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > bad taste > lack of refinement > inelegance > [noun] > ungracefulness
ungracefulness1658
awkwardness1705
ungainness1727
left-handiness1749
ungainliness1755
lankiness1893
1705 J. Addison Remarks Italy 43 A kind of Akwardness in the Italians.
1766 J. Fordyce Serm. Young Women I. iii. 89 The aukwardness, that is apt to adhere to young persons who are confined at home.
1815 W. Scott Guy Mannering I. iii. 36 A voice whose untuneable harshness corresponded with the awkwardness of his figure.
4. Awkward circumstance or feeling; inconvenience, embarrassment, unpleasantness.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > difficulty > types of difficulty > [noun] > difficulty or awkwardness of circumstance
awkwardness1788
stickiness1948
1788 Pitt in G. Rose Diaries (1860) I. 85 The awkwardness of having Sir Joseph Yorke the companion of his honours.
1837 J. H. Newman Parochial Serm. I. xii. 155 They feel the painfulness of rebuking another, and..the awkwardness of it.
1883 W. Black Shandon Bells xxvii [Her] pleasant humour..dispersed these awkwardnesses.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1885; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.1674