Welcome to Wondrous Words Wednesday! It might be cold outside, but there is plenty to learn inside. To find more interesting words, visit Kathy at Bermuda Onion.
We finally got a good snow here in Virginia. (I know you people in the northeast are literally up to your necks in the white stuff and probably don’t share my enthusiasm. Hang in there Amy.)
All this snow and ice inspired me to share a wondrous word for the clumsy: maladroit.
That maladroit young man will never be able to negotiate the ice patches on the sidewalk. Don’t let him outside!
maladroit \ma-lǝ-‘droit\ adj from the French mal + adroit.
- Very awkward; not skillful or adroit
An easy way to remember this one is that it’s the opposite of adroit, which means very clever or skillful. (the prefix mal means bad, as in malicious, malware, Malfoy)
Word Nerd Workout
Think of a synonym for maladroit or a maladroit character from books and movies. I’m currently reading The Rosie Project, by Graeme Simsion, and the protagonist, Don Tillman, is a brilliant but socially maladroit professor.
Thanks for getting nerdy with me!
Julia
Oh, I adore that word and am going to use it daily from now on! All this snow makes me look quite maladroitish (word?). I slip and slide and make my children laugh with glee. Aren’t they sweet?
My kids like to laugh at me too. That’s when I threaten not to feed them. ;). I’m definitely feeling more maladroit in the snow these days.
Maladroit is an excellent word! I bet it gets used a lot more than its root and antonym, adroit.