What's the difference between aplomb and awkwardness?

Aplomb


Definition:

  • (n.) Assurance of manner or of action; self-possession.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Castillo, who's seized his chance with aplomb, gets on the end of an aerial one-two in space and is free in front of goal.
  • (2) The young Spaniard, who has deputised at right-back with such aplomb this season, had the confidence to canter goalwards and plant the ball with his left foot into the far corner of the goal.
  • (3) No fairytale ending for Germany, mind, as Ronaldo fancied making good the horrors of 1998, and did so with aplomb.
  • (4) And it has managed to do this with some resourcefulness, if not quite aplomb.
  • (5) With his usual aplomb, he turned his back on his detractors and continued to paint in the name of his multireligious India elsewhere.
  • (6) Ceramicist Grayson Perry responded to a falling out with rather more aplomb.
  • (7) Alistair Beaton writes: Not long before he died, Ned was lying in a hospital room receiving visitors with his usual cheerful aplomb.
  • (8) Not just because of her sheer endurance i n a nearly 11-hour filibuster, not just because she stood up to condescension and sexism, and not just because she did it all with aplomb and grace.
  • (9) The cast always performed as smoothly as if they had had months of rehearsals, Williams doing his Rambling Syd Rumpo with aplomb.
  • (10) Jon Stead, a vibrant force up front all afternoon, squared the ball for the onrushing Mark Yeates, a Bradford substitute, and he despatched it with aplomb.
  • (11) Croatia 1-0 Cameroon (Olic 10 min) The hardest looking man on the pitch puts Croatia ahead against the run of play, finishing with aplomb from seven yards out after being teed up by a wonderful diagonal pass from Ivan Perisic.
  • (12) With characteristic Kinois aplomb, he believes the city that was once a shining star of Africa can somehow find its way back to prosperity.
  • (13) Its government has so far handled the modest tasks of the EU rotating presidency with aplomb.
  • (14) Bettino Craxi, who has died aged 65, was Italy's longest serving post-war prime minister (1983-87), filling the office with considerable aplomb and presiding over a period of strong economic growth; but he will be remembered as a tragic symbol of Italy's devastating corruption scandal and the man who effectively destroyed the Italian Socialist party (PSI).
  • (15) That win proved she had transferred her considerable talents to the road with great aplomb, involving as it did a lengthy solo escape in the final 40km which hinted at what she would achieve here, although with two other women for company.
  • (16) Roma doubled their lead with a strikingly similar goal, Radja Nainggolan beating his man just inside the home side’s half before threading the ball to Dzeko, who finished with aplomb on 29 minutes.
  • (17) Thus at the age of 37, Kerry took over the business empire, ironically handling the reins of power with aplomb.
  • (18) Bailey recalls that Dimbleby also chaired an edition of Question Time in Northern Ireland more than a decade ago, the first to feature a guest from Sinn Fein, and managed the debate, which also included an Ulster Unionist, with aplomb.
  • (19) "The real question is why Monsieur Cahuzac lied with such aplomb?
  • (20) Broken Sword 5 Serpent's Curse (£4.99) The Broken Sword games are brilliant: engrossing adventures that have navigated the path from PC to mobile with aplomb.

Awkwardness


Definition:

Example Sentences:

  • (1) But she has struggled – quite awkwardly – to articulate her evolution on same-sex marriage, and has left environmental activists wondering what her exact energy policy is.
  • (2) Once installed, the alliance will become an awkward, obstructionist presence, committed, in the words of the Northern League's Matteo Salvini, to "a different Europe, based on work and peoples and not in the one based on servitude to the euro and banks, ready to let us die from immigration and unemployment".
  • (3) There is no getting around the awkward fact that in Bristol West Stephen Williams represents a constituency of 82,503 while his neighbouring Labour MP in Bristol East, Kerry McCarthy, speaks for 69,347 constituents.
  • (4) Our team of reporters have spent the last week on an intensive bikram yoga course in order to get themselves into the rather awkward position of having their ears to the ground, their eyes to the skies and their fingers on the pulse.
  • (5) Jesús Navas played a one-two with Touré down the right and from his awkward cross the England squad goalkeeper fumbled the ball inside his six-yard area from where Fernando scored with an overhead kick as dextrous as it was surprising.
  • (6) It's straight at Stockdale, though the keeper needs two attempts to get the ball under control in these awkward conditions.
  • (7) And then the ball is in Caballero's hands.At the other end, Courtois beats away an awkward, bouncing drive from long range.
  • (8) That is an awkward, indeed risky, time to be contemplating takeoff.
  • (9) Despite his insistence that comedy should be colour-blind, Amos admits black audiences prefer the black circuit, where "you know the material isn't going to be racist or make you feel awkward, where you feel like you belong".
  • (10) And yet for all his anti-establishment credentials, Mr Galloway is as practised as any of his New Labour enemies at squirming away from awkward questions.
  • (11) Our calculations show that the biological inactive O-methyl-delta 8-THC orients with its long axis parallel to the lipid acyl chains, whereas the psychoactive cannabinoids assume "awkward" orientations in which the hydroxyl groups are pointing towards the bilayer interface, presumably to maximize the amphipathic interaction with the membrane.
  • (12) Why have they not done away with their own bodies and hair and all their awkward woman-type things?
  • (13) And I said: 'Look, man, I just got here, if it's OK, I don't wanna just walk in and take a picture – it'd make me feel awkward.'
  • (14) The SBS, in association with fluoroscopy, permits simple surgical implementation with accurate localization and extraction of foreign bodies, with the elimination of awkward, unpredictable, and time consuming retrieval techniques.
  • (15) What some people saw in this mistake was again a cultural bias against black art, unconscious though it may be This is why this mix-up mattered more than a bit of onstage awkwardness.
  • (16) April 16, 2014 The hesitancy – or unwillingness – of Ukrainian troops to use their weapons has produced multiple awkward confrontations with civilian crowds Wednesday, including one in Pchyolkino south of Kratamorsk, which seems still to be unresolved after an hours-long standoff.
  • (17) Sitting opposite her as she eats croissants and fixes on espresso it is hard to equate the immaculate perfection of Guillem the performer, in bobbed wig and suspenders last night, with the awkwardly engaging and somewhat bed-headed Guillem in skinny jeans and T-shirt this morning.
  • (18) Facebook Twitter Pinterest Donald Trump and Theresa May awkwardly hold hands at White House
  • (19) Even that took a finely weighted pass and an awkward stretching first touch from two very fine technicians.
  • (20) What's more, his genial stiffness and shy self-awareness give him a kind of awkward dignity compared to the preening smugness of Cruz.