ぎこちないgikochinai

1. i-adjectiveawkward; clumsy; stiff; crude; unrefined; constrained
   彼かれは動作どうさがぎこちない。↗

   He is awkward in his movements.

• Synonym不器用ぶきようCasual「ぶきっちょ」is the colloquial reading; it points to a lack of dexterity or social skill—an ability issue—while 「ぎこちない」describes stiff, jerky movement or speech.
• SynonymつたないWrittenSays a skill or piece of writing is of low quality; strongly literary and often humble, as in 「拙い文章ですが」. 「ぎこちない」is about movement or speech lacking flow.
• RelatedへたくそCasualColloquial for extremely poor skill, with an insulting or self-mocking tone; it judges level. 「ぎこちない」describes stiff movement, speech or relations without any insult.
• Related不自然ふしぜんNeutralPoints to something unnatural or affected that strikes people as off—attitudes, writing, phenomena. 「ぎこちない」stresses stiff, halting movement or speech.
• Related未熟みじゅくNeutralRefers to insufficient skill or experience, or unripe fruit—the level of training. 「ぎこちない」describes stiffness on display, in movement, dialogue or a smile.
• Related不得意ふとくいNeutralMeans being weak at something and lacking confidence—a standing weakness. 「ぎこちない」describes the moment's stiffness in movement or speech; not interchangeable.
• Related不手際ふてぎわFormalFormal word for clumsy handling that leads to mistakes, common in apologies like 「不手際がありました」. It stresses botched results; 「ぎこちない」stresses unsmooth movement or speech.
• Related不得手ふえてWrittenMeans being bad at something, or disliking it—close to 「不得意」but more literary. 「ぎこちない」describes stiffness in movement or speech.
• Related不格好ぶかっこうNeutralMainly describes an ugly or ill-proportioned appearance; even for movement it stresses how it looks. 「ぎこちない」focuses on whether movement or speech flows.
• Related無様ぶざまNeutralMeans looking disgraceful or making a fool of oneself; far more damning than 「ぎこちない」, used of humiliating failures like 「無様な負け方」.
• Related格好の悪いかっこうのわるいNeutralSays an appearance is unattractive or uncool—it judges looks. 「ぎこちない」judges whether movement or speech flows, so the two take different angles.
• Relatedかっこ悪いかっこわるいCasualColloquial for looking lame or embarrassing, as in 「負けてかっこ悪い」. 「ぎこちない」says movement, speech or atmosphere is stiff, with no hint of losing face.
• RelatedへぼCasualColloquial and contemptuous for hopeless lack of skill; also for poorly grown crops. 「ぎこちない」says movement, speech or relations are stiff, without putting anyone down.
• Related不精巧ふせいこうWrittenA rare written word for crude workmanship or clumsy technique, applied to skills or products; in daily speech say 「下手」. Unrelated to how smoothly one moves.
• Antonym滑らかなめらかNeutralThe antonym for smooth movement or progress, as in 「滑らかな動き」; on its own it can also describe a physically smooth surface.
• Antonym流暢りゅうちょうNeutralDescribes fluent speech, especially in a foreign language, as in 「流暢な日本語」; it is the opposite of 「ぎこちない」for smooth, flowing talk.
• Antonym自然しぜんNeutralThe antonym for behavior that is natural and unforced, as in 「自然な笑顔」; on its own the word also means nature itself.

Use 「ぎこちない」for stiff, jerky movement, speech or atmosphere. For clumsy hands or social awkwardness pick 「不器用」; for something affected or off-putting 「不自然」; for outright poor skill 「下手くそ」. 「無様」and 「かっこ悪い」add a sense of disgrace, 「拙い」humbles one's work, and the opposites are 「滑らか」, 「流暢」and 「自然」.

Usage comparisons are AI-assisted and cross-checked by multiple models; for study reference only

1. 言動げんどうなどが滑なめらかでない。