awkward |ˈôkwərd|adjective1 causing difficulty; hard to do or deal with: one of the most awkward jobs is painting a ceiling | some awkward questions | the wheelbarrow can be awkward to maneuver.• deliberately unreasonable or uncooperative: you're being damned awkward!2 causing or feeling embarrassment or inconvenience: he had put her in a very awkward situation.3 not smooth or graceful; ungainly: Luther's awkward movements impeded his progress | she was long-legged and rather awkward.• uncomfortable or abnormal: make sure the baby isn't sleeping in an awkward position.DERIVATIVESawkwardly adverbORIGIN late Middle English (in the sense ‘the wrong way around, upside down’): from dialect awk ‘backward, perverse, clumsy’ (from Old Norse afugr ‘turned the wrong way’) + -ward.