Meaning & use
Maladroit
Last updated
Lacking skill or grace; clumsy or inept, especially in social or physical situations.
See it in a sentence
His maladroit attempt at small talk only made the meeting more awkward.
The new intern was maladroit with the delicate lab equipment.
A note on using this word
Borrowed directly from French, where 'mal-' (bad) combines with 'adroit' (skillful) to form its opposite.
Words with a similar meaning
clumsyinept
Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.
Words with an opposite meaning
adroitskillful
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