What's the difference between awkward and backhanded?

Awkward


Definition:

  • (a.) Wanting dexterity in the use of the hands, or of instruments; not dexterous; without skill; clumsy; wanting ease, grace, or effectiveness in movement; ungraceful; as, he was awkward at a trick; an awkward boy.
  • (a.) Not easily managed or effected; embarrassing.
  • (a.) Perverse; adverse; untoward.

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.

Backhanded


Definition:

  • (a.) With the hand turned backward; as, a backhanded blow.
  • (a.) Indirect; awkward; insincere; sarcastic; as, a backhanded compliment.
  • (a.) Turned back, or inclining to the left; as, a backhanded letters.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) 4.58pm BST First-set tie-break: Kyrgios 6-4 Nadal* (*denotes server): Kyrgios dabs a backhand wide.
  • (2) Chicago's Patrick Kane scored on a backhand at 9:40 of overtime to secure victory over Minnesota.
  • (3) Goffin saved that one before gifting Murray his fifth break as an overhit backhand by the Belgian put the 28-year-old 5-0 ahead before a comfortable hold to love ensured Murray saw out the match in just 53 minutes.
  • (4) Murray drags himself to 30-all but he's facing a break point when Dimitrov stuns a backhand down the line.
  • (5) In a perverse way, it’s a backhanded compliment to what is after all a young coach (he’ll turn 41 at the end of the month) that Kreis, at RSL, gets treated as part of the MLS furniture.
  • (6) In some instances, this difference in accuracy can be attributed to the fact that the intermediate players were unaware of what the telegraphic cues were (e.g., backhand shots) while, in other situations, the difference in prediction ability is primarily due to the intermediate players' more frequent failure to detect the presence of known telegraphic cues (i.e., forehand shots).
  • (7) Djokovic is hiding his problems better, but they're still visible in his tennis, as he parlays advantage into break point with a couple of unforced errors before lashing a crosscourt backhand wide – way wide – to relinquish control of the set and match.
  • (8) Telemetry EMG was used to assess the muscle activity of the anterior deltoid and the forearm extensor muscles during the forehand and backhand strokes of tennis in a selected group of test subjects.
  • (9) Updated at 4.44pm BST 4.39pm BST Second set: Djokovic 4-6, 4-2 Nadal* (*denotes server) After much head-shaking, Djokovic nails a forehand, before drawing Nadal to the net with a drop-shot, Nadal scooting to the backhand wing and force-scooping a winner crosscourt.
  • (10) Updated at 5.36pm BST 5.28pm BST Third set: *Djokovic 4-6, 6-3, 3-3 Nadal (*denotes server) At 15-all, a ridiculous point, Nadal the aggressor, winging forehands to Djokovic's backhand corner, before the opportunity to play a drop presents itself.
  • (11) So that's 1-1 on Twitter allez es (that's the plural of allez , obviously): Brando Florente (@BrandoJablan) @guardian_sport @Simon_Burnton come on Nole June 8, 2014 joseph langton (@jnlangton) @guardian_sport @Simon_Burnton come on raffa June 8, 2014 2.24pm BST First set: Djokovic* 2-1 Nadal Djokovic nets a straightforward backhand to go 0-15 down, but an ace, a powerful crosscourt forehand from halfway down the court and then a fearsome, thunderous rally that ends with Nadal slapping a forehand into the net puts him firmly in control of the game.
  • (12) When the diva’s metronomic backhand malfunctioned and the last point of the set strayed wide, the cheers for the French-speaking Canadian sounded genuine enough.
  • (13) Federer flays a backhand into the corner but Murray reads it and eventually he's able to send an easy backhand past Federer.
  • (14) 3.44pm BST First set: *Djokovic 1-4 Nadal (*denotes server) Djokovic scurries to the net, slicing a backhand volley crosscourt when there was no need - Nadal's groundstroke was going wide.
  • (15) Perfect touch off Nadal's backhand to pull off a half-volley, crosscourt, across the front of Dimitrov, on a ridiculous angle.
  • (16) 12.14pm BST Play begins on Centre , where Sabine Lisicki pockets her opening service game with a scooped backhand into the open court.
  • (17) Next up, a forehand down the line unsettles Dimitrov, who was waiting for the backhand, and he can only push the next return into the net.
  • (18) But he doesn't win it, and a moment later – having taken control of the rally – he nets a straightforward backhand and Nadal has held.
  • (19) Though they have almost all fallen on their own swords (for taking backhanders, plagiarising PhDs), their demise under her leadership has earned her one of her many nicknames, Männermörderin (men murderer).
  • (20) Inspired by the idea of a city built around an airport (she grew up in Hounslow, near Heathrow), it leaves behind the constraints of any one genre, meandering through R&B-inflected garage (Beach Mode), instrumental grime (Backhand Winners) and Omar S-style stripped-back melodic techno (Eternal Mode).