gawky
Americanadjective
adjective
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clumsy or ungainly; awkward
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dialect left-handed
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of gawky
Explanation
Gawky people are awkward and uncoordinated, like giraffes doing ballet. Teenagers often feel gawky when their arms and legs grow faster than the rest of them. If you've ever felt awkward and clumsy, tripping over your own feet as you head down the hall or bumping your head on your open locker, you know what it's like to feel gawky. This adjective comes from the 16th century phrase gawk hand, or "left hand."
Vocabulary lists containing gawky
Awkward Moments
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Whoops! Synonyms for "Clumsy"
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The Dragonet Prophecy
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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.
Gawky and bespectacled but with the brio of a scrapper, Pearlman was dressed like a quintessential sports geek: black-and-yellow Pittsburgh Pirates hat and Pittsburgh Maulers shirt, the latter a long-gone professional football team.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 22, 2025
Gawky models running through some seedy noodle joint is the hipster technique du jour.
From Washington Post • Sep. 14, 2018
Gawky, toothy, sickly and painfully thin, she was teased, in the sometimes harsh Kennedy way, as “Puny Eunie.”
From Washington Post • Apr. 13, 2018
Gawky, homely, his weighty trunk swaying upon long parabolic legs, he first barnstormed the rural counties as a burlesque "Little Eva" in a golden wig on a ladder to heaven.
From Time Magazine Archive
Miss Gawky thought it would be a boxing match.
From Damon and Delia A Tale by Godwin, William
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
