Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In the play’s first scene, we see the 17-year-old William gawkily trying to woo her while she flies a pet hawk.

From New York Times • Apr. 7, 2023

As Doss in “Hacksaw Ridge,” Garfield beams gawkily, grimaces stoically and makes an excellent candidate for sainthood.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 24, 2017

Save for 1989’s Oh Mercy, his first collaboration with producer Daniel Lanois, Dylan’s 1980s records were dyspeptically reviewed and later lumped together as gawkily, half-heartedly crafted detritus.

From Slate • Apr. 2, 2014

Almost gawkily teenage, her gamine face is hyper-expressive, beaming right to the back rows.

From The Guardian • Jul. 16, 2011

She was small-boned, petite, and Olanna felt gawkily overgrown just looking at her; there was something childlike about her light-skinned, almost translucent complexion and tiny hands.

From "Half of a Yellow Sun" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie