Awkwardnesses

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The trait of being inelegant or socially uneasy during interactions; the quality characterized by difficulty in navigating awkward social dynamics and situations; instances reflecting a lack of comfort or poise in social conduct and engagements
2. The condition of feeling uneasy or lacking grace in social situations
3. A state marked by difficulty in behaving smoothly in gatherings or conversations

Etymology: "Awkwardnesses" is the plural of "awkwardness", and the plural form simply counts separate instances of the trait. The base word is "awkward" plus the suffix "-ness", which turns an adjective into a noun for a quality. "Awkward" itself came into English in the Middle Ages, probably from "awk", meaning "backhanded" or "turned the wrong way", combined with "-ward", meaning "in the direction of". So the original sense was literally something turned the wrong way, a physical sense that gradually shifted toward clumsiness in handling things and then toward social discomfort. The suffix "-ness" traces back to Old English "-nes", which was attached to adjectives from the start to make nouns of quality. Middle English later reshaped it into "-nesse", and modern English settled on "-ness". Because the suffix is so productive, nearly any adjective can take it, which is why the plural "awkwardnesses" is available at all, though it is used sparingly because readers usually want the single quality rather than a tally of occurrences.

Synonyms: clumsiness, inelegance, gawkiness

Antonyms: gracefulness, smoothness