1
as in clumsy
lacking or showing a lack of nimbleness in using one's hands
a graceless person who was a butterfingered lout when it came to playing basketball
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in uncomfortable
lacking social grace and assurance
was a graceless preteen but evolved into a confident teenager
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3
as in inappropriate
not appropriate for a particular occasion or situation
one guest made a graceless comment about the bride's bleached hair
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4
as in awkward
having or showing an inability to move in a graceful manner
her graceless dancing was painful to watch
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5
as in improper
showing poor judgment especially in personal relationships or social situations
indifferent to the nuances of constructive criticism, she sometimes says things which are hurtful or graceless
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of graceless
Still, Trump should want her endorsement and should be trying to woo her — and those voters — instead of engaging in his typically graceless behavior.
—
The Editors, National Review, 6 Mar. 2024
In a neighborhood filled with exceptional civic architecture, the building looked all the more graceless beside Arthur Erickson’s monumental Canadian Embassy and across the street from John Russell Pope’s magisterial National Gallery of Art and I.M. Pei’s East Building.
—Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 17 Nov. 2023
The other band members were gracious and discreet, but enough was said to leave the impression of a faintly aristocratic Reed who was graceless and intransigent.
—Ian Penman, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
Ruscha’s photographs—deliberately graceless taxonomies of parking lots, swimming pools, palm trees, and the like—seem thin by comparison, lacking the paintings’ dialectic of innocence and wit.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2023
See All Example Sentences for graceless
The Editors, National Review, 6 Mar. 2024
In a neighborhood filled with exceptional civic architecture, the building looked all the more graceless beside Arthur Erickson’s monumental Canadian Embassy and across the street from John Russell Pope’s magisterial National Gallery of Art and I.M. Pei’s East Building.
—Michael Kimmelman, New York Times, 17 Nov. 2023
The other band members were gracious and discreet, but enough was said to leave the impression of a faintly aristocratic Reed who was graceless and intransigent.
—Ian Penman, The New Yorker, 16 Oct. 2023
Ruscha’s photographs—deliberately graceless taxonomies of parking lots, swimming pools, palm trees, and the like—seem thin by comparison, lacking the paintings’ dialectic of innocence and wit.
—Jackson Arn, The New Yorker, 2 Oct. 2023
See All Example Sentences for graceless
Recent Examples of Synonyms for graceless
Adjective
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The clumsy use of voice-overs is more embarrassing still.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
6 June 2025
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In the latest, a clumsy but charming young woman in Paris, struggling to become a writer and longing for Jane Austen-style romance, finally has her moment at a Jane Austen Writers’ Residency in England.—
Jill Goldsmith,
Deadline,
25 May 2025
Adjective
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Because here’s the uncomfortable truth: Most marketing ROI is based on incomplete data and backward-looking models that oversimplify human behavior.—
Gully Flowers,
Forbes.com,
5 June 2025
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Bloating Bloating is a common and often uncomfortable feeling of stomach fullness or tightness.—
T'Keyah Bazin,
Verywell Health,
4 June 2025
Adjective
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There can be a change to the list if a storm is so deadly or costly that the future use of its name on another would be inappropriate.—
Jordan King,
MSNBC Newsweek,
3 June 2025
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Both the city’s account and Mayor Quinton Lucas issued online apologies that night, agreeing that the post was inappropriate.—
Mike Hendricks,
Kansas City Star,
3 June 2025
Adjective
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From awkward silences to unresolved tensions, most of us would rather scroll, text, or disappear than risk a moment of raw, honest connection.—
Margie Warrell,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2025
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The feelings of being sweaty, red-faced and kind of awkward is very familiar to me.—
Mark Olsen,
Los Angeles Times,
5 June 2025
Adjective
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An arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt: A 30-year-old woman from Naperville was arrested on two warrants and on charges of improper lane usage and criminal defacement of property at 2:27 a.m. May 25 in the 1500 block of Fairway Drive.—
Steve Metsch,
Chicago Tribune,
2 June 2025
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Zika is especially dangerous for pregnant women because it can be transmitted to the fetus, causing microcephaly (a smaller head), improper brain development, and cerebral palsy.—
Cara Lynn Shultz,
People.com,
30 May 2025
Adjective
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In the wake of multiple plane crashes, and amid erratic federal policies and denials and detentions at border crossings, summer travel in the U.S. is in an uneasy state.—
Kevinisha Walker,
Los Angeles Times,
2 June 2025
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The opening moments cement its tonal dissonance as, with a twang of Daniel Kowalski’s spare, uneasy score, a brief prologue with fire, a flailing figure and mutterings about Satan snaps to a far more banal view of an empty street lined with dim, shuttered houses under a low, gray sky.—
Jessica Kiang,
Variety,
30 May 2025
Adjective
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Any useless, toxic or otherwise unsuitable man can become a child’s legal father, without being subject to the thorough checks that these women must face.—
Catherine Bray,
Variety,
23 May 2025
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Advertisement Advertisement Some insects are adapting to changing climates by moving to regions that might have previously been unsuitable.—
Simmone Shah,
Time,
20 May 2025
Adjective
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The camera swirls around the scene, unsteady and swift.—
Madison Bloom,
Pitchfork,
16 May 2025
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It’s maintained an idiosyncratic spirit all along, combining references from across rock history—a Bob Dylan harmonica line here, a Cars synth line there—with lyrics that unspool in unsteady, careening cadences.—
Spencer Kornhaber,
The Atlantic,
22 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Graceless.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/graceless. Accessed 15 Jun. 2025.
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