gawky

English

Etymology

From gawk +‎ -y.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɔːki/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

  Rhymes: -ɔːki

Adjective

gawky (comparative gawkier, superlative gawkiest)

1. Awkward, ungainly; lacking grace or dexterity in movement.
   • 2009, Appalachian Children's Literature: An Annotated Bibliography, McFarland, →ISBN, page 77:

     The “gawky” illustrations look as though they may have been done by Belva Jean herself (Bulletin, Mar. 1989).

   • 2020, Ann H. Gabhart, An Appalachian Summer, Revell, →ISBN:

     The woman had barely come up to Seth's shoulder. Petite with curly blonde hair and a dimpled smile. Nothing at all like Francine with her plain brown hair and hazel eyes. Just looking at the woman's picture had made her feel tall and gawky.

2. (Yorkshire, West Riding) Left-handed.

Synonyms

• gauche, ungraceful

Translations

awkward, ungainly

• Bulgarian: непохватен (bg) (nepohvaten), недодялан (bg) (nedodjalan)
• Czech: nemotorný, neohrabaný
• Esperanto: mallerta
• Finnish: kömpelö (fi), jäykkä (fi)
• French: maladroit (fr), godiche (fr)
• Georgian: მოუქნელი (moukneli), ულაზათო (ulazato)
• Greek: αδέξιος (el) (adéxios)
• Japanese: 鈍臭い (donkusai)
• Romanian: stângaci (ro) m
• Russian: неуклю́жий (ru) (neukljúžij)
• Spanish: insignificante (es)

Noun

gawky (plural gawkies)

1. An awkward, ungainly person.
   • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:

     " […] Mrs. Sedley had forgiven his breaking the punch-bowl at the child's party. Don't you remember the catastrophe, Ma'am, seven years ago?"
     "Over Mrs. Flamingo's crimson silk gown," said good-natured Mrs. Sedley. "What a gawky it was! And his sisters are not much more graceful. Lady Dobbin was at Highbury last night with three of them. Such figures! my dears."

   • 1870, Punch, volume 58, page 198:

     Let not the inconveniently tall, the gawkies, the Maypoles, despair.