untowardness
Quality of being troublesome
Untowardness is the quality of being inconvenient, troublesome, or difficult to manage.
It suggests a perverse resistance to going smoothly or according to plan.
The word carries a slightly formal or old-fashioned tone and often appears in contexts where someone notes the untowardness of circumstances or the untowardness of a situation that has gone unexpectedly awry.
Inappropriate for the occasion
- indecorousViolating standards of propriety
- inappropriateNot suitable or fitting
- improperLacking in propriety
- indecencyOffensive or vulgar behavior
misconduct · breach · transgression · scandal · offense · indelicacy · unseemliness · tastelessness
Refusal to follow orders
- insubordinationDefying workplace authority
- recalcitranceStubborn refusal to obey
- waywardnessStubborn resistance to guidance
- willfulnessIntentional resistance to direction
obstinacy · contrariness · rebelliousness · noncompliance · intractability · unruliness · perversity · stubbornness
Adverse circumstance or event
- setbackReverse in progress
- mishapMinor unfortunate occurrence
- calamitySevere misfortune or disaster
- difficultyState of being hard
hardship · trouble · affliction · misadventure · adversity · complication · snag · hitch
Lack of physical grace
- ineptnessLack of competence
- gracelessnessLack of smooth movement
- ungainlinessLack of physical grace
- gauchenessSocial ineptitude
maladroitness · inelegance · tactlessness · ham-fistedness · stiffness · discomfiture · embarrassment
unseemly
Inappropriate for the occasion
- indecorousViolating standards of propriety
- inappropriateNot suitable or fitting
- improperLacking in propriety
indecency · misconduct · breach · transgression · scandal · offense · indelicacy · unseemliness · tastelessness · gaffe
disobedience
Refusal to follow orders
- insubordinationDefying workplace authority
- recalcitranceStubborn refusal to obey
- waywardnessStubborn resistance to guidance
willfulness · obstinacy · contrariness · rebelliousness · noncompliance · intractability · unruliness · perversity · stubbornness · refractoriness
misfortune
Adverse circumstance or event
difficulty · hardship · trouble · affliction · misadventure · adversity · complication · snag · hitch · obstacle
clumsiness
Lack of physical grace
- ineptnessLack of competence
- gracelessnessLack of smooth movement
- ungainlinessLack of physical grace
gaucheness · maladroitness · inelegance · tactlessness · ham-fistedness · stiffness · discomfiture · embarrassment
untowardnesspropriety
Correctness of conduct
seemliness · decorum · appropriateness · fittingness · aptness
untowardnessfavorableness
Quality of being advantageous
auspiciousness · fortunateness · convenience · advantageousness · opportuneness
untowardnesstractability
Readiness to be guided
agreeableness · propriety · manageability · cooperativeness · docility