marked by deliberate deceptiveness especially by pretending one set of feelings and acting under the influence of another; "she was a deceitful scheming little thing"- Israel Zangwill; "a double-dealing double agent"; "a double-faced infernal traitor and schemer"- W.M.Thackeray
equally skillful with each hand; "an ambidextrous surgeon"
not at ease socially; unsure and constrained in manner; "awkward and reserved at parties"; "ill at ease among eddies of people he didn't know"; "was always uneasy with strangers"
causing inconvenience; "they arrived at an awkward time"
hard to deal with; especially causing pain or embarrassment; "awkward (or embarrassing or difficult) moments in the discussion"; "an awkward pause followed his remark"; "a sticky question"; "in the unenviable position of resorting to an act he had planned to save for the climax of the campaign"
not elegant or graceful in expression; "an awkward prose style"; "a clumsy apology"; "his cumbersome writing style"; "if the rumor is true, can anything be more inept than to repeat it now?"
lacking grace or skill in manner or movement or performance; "an awkward dancer"; "an awkward gesture"; "too awkward with a needle to make her own clothes"; "his clumsy fingers produced an awkward knot"
difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape; "an awkward bundle to carry"; "a load of bunglesome paraphernalia"; "clumsy wooden shoes"; "the cello, a rather ungainly instrument for a girl"
roundabout or ambiguous; "attacks from that source amounted to a backhanded compliment to his integrity"; "a backhanded and dishonest way of reaching his goal"
in or to a backstage area of a theater; "costumes were changed backstage"
out of view of the public; behind the scenes; "Working backstage to gain political support for his proposal"; "many private deals were made backstage at the convention"
(of e.g. speech and writing) tending to depart from the main point or cover a wide range of subjects; "amusingly digressive with satirical thrusts at women's fashions among other things"; "a rambling discursive book"; "his excursive remarks"; "a rambling speech about this and that"
of superficial relevance if any; "a digressive allusion to the day of the week"; "a tangential remark"
not straightforward or candid; giving a false appearance of frankness; "an ambitious, disingenuous, philistine, and hypocritical operator, who...exemplified...the most disagreeable traits of his time"- David Cannadine; "a disingenuous excuse"