awkward

Very clumsy or uncoordinated. When my toddler was first learning to walk, she was awkward as a cow on a crutch. He'll never make the basketball team—he's as awkward as a cow on a crutch.

Very clumsy or uncoordinated. When my toddler was first learning to walk, she was as awkward as a cow on roller skates. He'll never make the basketball team—he's awkward as a cow on roller skates.

A troublesome person. I don't want Joe to join the club, he's just such an awkward customer.

The period between childhood and adulthood, which many find to be the most difficult to navigate emotionally. I always cringe when I look back at the stuff I wrote during my awkward age, so full of angst and self-importance.

A group of individuals within a unit or organization who do not cooperate, accept change, or act in the group's interest, either deliberately or due to incompetence. This awkward squad of senators is causing headaches for both parties.

To cause one to be in a situation or scenario that could prove to be embarrassing or damaging to one's reputation, career, relationship with someone else, etc. Because I'm good friends with both Jack and Jenny, their breakup places me in a really awkward position. I hope you realize that it will place us in an awkward position if you decide to leave the company right now.

To cause one to be in a situation or scenario that could prove to be embarrassing or damaging to one's reputation, career, relationship with someone else, etc. Because I'm such good friends with both Jack and Jenny, their breakup puts me in a really awkward position. I hope you realize that it will put us in an awkward position if you decide to leave the company right now.

very clumsy or off balance. (*Also: as ~.) When Lulu was overweight, she was awkward as a cow on a crutch. Tom will never be a gymnast. He's as awkward as a cow on roller skates!

Prov. a very clumsy creature in a delicate situation. (*Typically: as awkward as ~; like ~.) I never know what to say at a funeral. I feel like a bull in a china shop, trampling on feelings without even meaning to. Lester felt like a bull in a china shop; reaching for an orange, he made several elaborate pyramids of fruit tumble down.

Fig. to put someone in an embarrassing or delicate situation. Your decision places me in an awkward position. I'm afraid I have put myself in sort of an awkward position.

to make a situation difficult for someone; to make it difficult for someone to evade or avoid acting. Your demands have put me in an awkward position. I don't know what to do. I'm afraid I've put myself in sort of an awkward position.

An extremely clumsy person, as in Her living room, with its delicate furniture and knickknacks, made him feel like a bull in a china shop . The precise origin for this term has been lost; it was first recorded in Frederick Marryat's novel, Jacob Faithful (1834).

Clumsily destructive. An early written example of the expression appeared in Frederick Marryat's 1834 novel, Jacob Faithful , although the image of a bull wrecking havoc as he wandered among tables and shelves of fine porcelain can be traced a century earlier. The expression can also be found in several European languages, although the animal in question is an elephant. In 1940, an American press agent led a bull through a New York City china shop as a publicity stunt. The bull didn't break anything, but a bystander trying to avoid the bull backed into a table and caused the damage.