aukwardness

Noun

awkwardness (usually uncountable, plural awkwardnesses)

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.
   • Such awkwardnesses indicate that Lenin was conscious of the daily erosion of what few democratic institutions remained, but wished from time to time to invoke the virtuous-sounding name of democracy.1978 [1976], Leszek Kołakowski, translated by P[aul] S[teven] Falla, Main Currents of Marxism, volume II: The Golden Age, Oxford: Clarendon Press, translation of Główne nurty marksizmu: rozwój (in...