awkward silence

collocation in English

meaningsofawkwardandsilence

These words are often used together. Click on the links below to explore the meanings. Or,see other collocations withsilence.
awkward
adjective
uk
/ˈɔː.kwəd/us
/ˈɑː.kwɚd/
difficult to use, do, or ...
See more atawkward
silence
noun
uk
/ˈsaɪ.ləns/us
/ˈsaɪ.ləns/
a period without any sound; ...
See more atsilence

(Definition ofawkwardandsilencefrom theCambridge English Dictionary© Cambridge University Press)

Examplesofawkward silence

These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
Anawkwardsilencefollows, and the spectators shuffle out of the hall.
From
Wikipedia
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When the band finishes playing their song, anawkwardsilencefor more than ten seconds occurs, then he picks up the book and continues reading.
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The song speaks of theawkwardsilencethat follows her discovery of this event.
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Theirawkwardsilenceis disrupted by a malfunction aboard their ship.
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A number of the conversations in the novel are full of pauses, unfinished sentences orawkwardsilence.
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When she says you can tell me anything, anawkwardsilencefollows.
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There followed a long and increasinglyawkwardsilence.
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She is also incredibly driven, finding herself knowing more than her careers advisor, having planned out her future, and having to pass up a fifteen-minute interview inawkwardsilence.
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Depending on their context and placement in a sentence, ellipses can also indicate an unfinished thought, a leading statement, a slight pause, and a nervous orawkwardsilence.
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Anawkwardsilencemay occur if a pause has exceeded, for instance, a length generally accepted for demarcating a subject change or the end of a turn.
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Wikipedia
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These young people also found music useful in terms of social interaction, both in terms of talking about music and in music's ability to fill awkward silences.
From theCambridge English Corpus
The show highlights awkward silences and pregnant pauses.
From
Wikipedia
This example is from Wikipedia and may be reused under a CC BY-SA license.
These examples are from corpora and from sources on the web. Any opinions in the examples do not represent the opinion of the Cambridge Dictionary editors or of Cambridge University Press or its licensors.
Want to learn more?
Go to the definition ofawkward
Go to the definition ofsilence
See other collocations withsilence