Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use awkward in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun

Awkward means lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments. Example: “John was awkward at performing the trick. He'll have to practice to improve.”

Examples of awkward by meaning

adjectiveLacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments.

  • John was awkward at performing the trick. He'll have to practice to improve.

adjectiveNot easily managed or effected; embarrassing.

  • That was an extremely awkward moment. Everyone was watching.
  • An awkward silence had fallen.

adjectiveLacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction.

  • I'm very awkward at parties.
  • Things got awkward when my boss tried a cheesy pick-up line on me.

adjectivePerverse; adverse; difficult to handle.

  • He's a right awkward chap.
  • These cabinets are going to be very awkward when we move.
  • Clearing up rock and fallen vegetation at such an awkward site required a team of specialist geoengineers.2020 August 26, Andrew Mourant, “Reinforced against future flooding”, in Rail, page 61

nounSomeone or something that is awkward.

  • Another important branch of deportment was to seat the awkwards stiffly on the extreme edge of a chair, fold the hands on the very precarious lap, droop the eyes in a pensive way.1912, Eliza Ripley, Social Life in Old New Orleans, Being Recollections of My Girlhood, New York, N.Y.; London: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC
  • That is a way to make awkwards.2014, Grace Helbig, Grace's Guide: The Art of Pretending to Be a Grown-up, New York, N.Y.: Touchstone Books, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page...

More sentences with awkward

  • The United States is in an awkward situation with debt default looming.From the entry situation
  • Being stuck with two V tiles can make for an awkward Scrabble endgame.From the entry endgame
  • Our leg press machine is selectorized, so no awkward plate changes are necessary.From the entry selectorized
  • At first I was awkward, but eventually I got with the music.From the entry get with
  • It was awkward at the time, but later we all had a laugh about it.From the entry have a laugh
  • The awkward and agitated customer began to sketch them out a bit.From the entry sketch out
  • His suit was misfitted and looked awkward.From the entry misfit
  • Driving feels awkward when you’re new to it, but it’s easy once you get the hang of it.From the entry get the hang of
  • His awkward stagger is due to his shamble legs.From the entry shamble
  • The new college hallmates were awkward with each other at first, but after a game of charades as an icebreaker, they were laughing like old friends.From the entry icebreaker
  • And conflicts inside Trump’s awkward, jerry-rigged coalition certainly exist, most recently reaching a boiling point over tariffs.2025 April 13, Naomi Klein, Astra Taylor, “The rise of end times fascism”, in The Guardian, →ISSN. From the entry jerry-rigged
  • In November, she expressed irritation with Sam, 29, in an awkward exchange on his livestream.2023 September 4, “Britney & Sam: It’s over!”, in In Touch Weekly, volume 22, number 36, Englewood Cliffs, N.J., page 23. From the entry livestream
  • I always use the diminutive forms like that simply because "womanmoding" is REALLY awkward to say.2023 April 13, @lampjaded, Twitter (post), archived from the original on 18 May 2026. From the entry womanmode
  • The topic of money requires the most awkward suspension of disbelief in fiction.2022 January 7, Jordan Calhoun, “The One Thing TV Characters Don’t Talk About”, in Humans Being, The Atlantic. From the entry suspension of disbelief
  • Alerted to an awkward scene in the making, someone else behind the counter stepped in to help.2022, Robert Kanigel, Young Man, Muddled, Bancroft Press, →ISBN, page 16. From the entry egg cream
  • I could make note of what sounded too awkward, too flat, too up-talky and too fast.2020, Sarah Kurchak, I Overcame My Autism and All I Got Was This Lousy Anxiety Disorder, page 77. From the entry uptalky
  • The story of my youth was about being socially awkward, bumbling, and bully-some.2016, Rick Ray, Sustainable Weight. From the entry bullysome
  • Pictures of celebrities and others captured in awkward freeze-framed expressions got the Ermahgerd treatment too—practicing memesmiths pouncing.2015 October 15, Darryn King, “Ermahgerddon: The Untold Story of the Ermahgerd Girl”, in Vanity Fair. From the entry memesmith
  • It's implemented in a highly magical way, and some of its usage is quite awkward.2014, Rob Napier, Mugunth Kumar, iOS 7 Programming Pushing the Limits, John Wiley & Sons, →ISBN, page 406. From the entry KVO
  • Also, I dated a few guys in the office so it would've been awkward.”2013, Iris Smyles, Iris Has Free Time, Berkeley, CA: Counterpoint, →ISBN, page 7. From the entry been there, done that
  • As a child in elementary school, I was very awkward and paranoid, especially in that particular classroom.2013, “Dream #39”, in Robert G. Kunzendorf, James W. Veatch, Envisioning the Dream through Art and Science (with 100 Digitally Imaged…. From the entry a cigar is just a cigar
  • That awkward moment when someone doesn't reply to your risky text message.2012, Marlize Schmidt, That Awkward Moment..., Lulu Press, Inc, →ISBN. From the entry risky
  • Trying to get the ball in play, she ducked and hit an awkward squash shot.2011, Yolanda Wallace, Lucky Loser, →ISBN. From the entry squash shot
  • After several awkward disrobings, you learn to do it with style, one button at a time.2009, Jock Lauterer, Community Journalism: Relentlessly Local. From the entry disrobing
  • My awkward sprawl sent Morgan and Carl into shrills of laughter.2008, Donna Milner, After River, London: Quercus, →ISBN, page 63. From the entry gibbled
  • It was awkward even for my parents, unembarrassable progressives though they were.2007, Elinor Lipman, My Latest Grievance, page 6. From the entry unembarrassable
  • Compromise is awkward when religion is involved, and the several South Asian writing systems are considered sacral.2005, Richard Oliver Collin, Revolutionary scripts: the politics of writing systems. From the entry sacral
  • Old Pete would have had some smart gay backchat to deal with an awkward moment like this.2004, Alan Hollinghurst, chapter 6, in The Line of Beauty […], London: Picador, →ISBN. From the entry backchat
  • Bean, the diminutive, awkward, gravitationally challenged, accident-prone incarnation served up by Rowan Atkinson.2003 July 18, Leonard Klady, “MCM Review: Johnny English”, in Movie City News, retrieved 29 Aug 2010. From the entry gravitationally challenged
  • Ah, twitterpation: that state of ephemeral bliss we all have such an awkward relationship with.2002, David Mark Brown, Tainted Love, page 98. From the entry twitterpation

Meaning of awkward

  1. adjective Lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments.
  2. adjective Not easily managed or effected; embarrassing.
  3. adjective Lacking social skills, or uncomfortable with social interaction.

Full definition of awkward

Questions about awkward in a sentence

How do you use awkward in a sentence?
Awkward is used as an adjective and noun. For example: “John was awkward at performing the trick. He'll have to practice to improve.”
What is a short sentence with awkward?
“An awkward silence had fallen.”
What does awkward mean?
Awkward means lacking dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: awkward (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use awkward in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/awkward. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.