maladroit

C2+ Topic:Describing Qualities

US /ˌmæləˈdrɔɪt/ UK /ˌmæləˈdrɔɪt/ See IPA manual

adj

Meanings

1

adj
clumsy or inept; lacking skill or tact

His maladroit handling of the question offended everyone.

Thesaurus

Synonyms

1 adj · clumsy or inept; lacking... clumsy inept awkward bungling gauche unskillful tactless

Opposites

adroit skillful deft dexterous tactful

Word family

Derived forms maladroitlymaladroitness

Related forms adroit

Etymology

From French maladroit, from mal ('badly', from Latin male) + adroit ('skillful', from a droit 'rightly', from Latin directus 'straight').

mal Middle English male Middle English directus Latin

View etymology graph ->

Topics

Describing Qualities

# maladroit

**Type:** Word
**Level:** C2+
**Part of speech:** adj
**IPA (US):** ˌmæləˈdrɔɪt
**IPA (UK):** ˌmæləˈdrɔɪt

## Meanings
1. clumsy or inept; lacking skill or tact

## Examples
- His maladroit handling of the question offended everyone.

## Synonyms
- clumsy
- inept
- awkward
- bungling
- gauche
- unskillful
- tactless

## Antonyms
- adroit
- skillful
- deft
- dexterous
- tactful

## Derived Forms
- maladroitly
- maladroitness

## Related Forms
- adroit

## Roots and Affixes
- Root: mal
- Root: male
- Root: directus

## Etymology
From French maladroit, from mal ('badly', from Latin male) + adroit ('skillful', from a droit 'rightly', from Latin directus 'straight').

## AI Etymology
Maladroit comes from French maladroit, from mal ('badly', from Latin male) + adroit ('skillful', from a droit 'rightly', from Latin directus 'straight'). The etymological trail includes French mal, Latin male, Latin directus. The same word family includes maladroitly, maladroitness, adroit. Its current adjective use means "clumsy or inept; lacking skill or tact".

## Topics
- Describing Qualities

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maladroit

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