Words / M / General

maladroit

adjective/ˌmaləˈdrɔɪt/

C2CEFR level
82/100Rarity: very rare
FormalRegister

Clumsy and inept in action, movement or handling of situations.

His maladroit attempt to smooth things over only deepened the quarrel.

Similar: clumsy, inept, gauche

Origin: From French mal 'badly' + adroit 'skilful'.

Topic: ineptitude in General English

Rarity runs from 0 (a word everyone knows) to 100 (almost never seen outside specialist or literary writing). Level is the word's real difficulty on the CEFR scale, from A1 to C2.

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More general words: ineptitude