Cloddishness

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. The quality of displaying an ungracious and ungainly manner in social situations
2. The characteristic of behaving in a socially awkward or unpolished way
3. A tendency to act in a rough, clumsy, or socially inept manner

Etymology: "Cloddishness" is simply the noun form of "cloddish," built by adding the suffix "-ness" to that adjective. The suffix, which comes from Old English "-nes-" and is one of the most productive ways English turns adjectives into nouns, means "the state or quality of being" whatever the adjective describes. So cloddishness is the quality of being cloddish. The adjective itself goes back to "clodde," a clod or lump of earth, which gave English its sense of a lump of soil. From the image of something heavy, shapeless and unrefined came the figurative sense of a dull, lumpen person, and then of someone who is awkward and ungainly in manner. The "-ish" suffix, meaning "having the qualities of," turns that image into a description of behaviour, so a cloddish person is one who moves and speaks like a clod of earth.

Synonyms: gawkiness, awkwardness, stupidity, clumsiness, ignorance

Antonyms: gracefulness, intelligence, sophistication, refinement, finesse