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View synonyms for clumsy

clumsy

[ kluhm-zee ]

adjective

clumsier, clumsiest.
  1. awkward in movement or action; without skill or grace:

    He is very clumsy and is always breaking things.

    Synonyms: lubberly, lumbering, ungainly, ungraceful

  2. awkwardly done or made; unwieldy; ill-contrived:

    He made a clumsy, embarrassed apology.

    Synonyms: inept, heavy-handed, bumbling, inexpert, maladroit, unskillful, unhandy

    Antonyms: skillful, adroit



clumsy

/ ˈklʌmzɪ /

adjective

  1. lacking in skill or physical coordination
  2. awkwardly constructed or contrived
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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Derived Forms

  • ˈclumsiness, noun
  • ˈclumsily, adverb
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Other Words From

  • clum·si·ly adverb
  • clum·si·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of clumsy1

1590–1600; clums benumbed with cold (now obsolete) + -y 1; akin to Middle English clumsen to be stiff with cold, dialectal Swedish klumsig benumbed, awkward, klums numbskull, Old Norse klumsa lockjaw. See clam 2
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Word History and Origins

Origin of clumsy1

C16 (in obsolete sense: benumbed with cold; hence, awkward): perhaps from C13 dialect clumse to benumb, probably from Scandinavian; compare Swedish dialect klumsig numb
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Example Sentences

The AI tool may have been guilty of fuzzy and clumsy phrasing, but it did not defend or sympathize with the KKK.

In farce, we expect to see characters, overwhelmed by situations of their own making, behaving at their clumsy worst.

Others have been less adept, clumsy in their communications or wholly unmoved by worker concerns — sparking anger among their ranks as a result.

As last year, the production seemed arranged to sell the party idea, in ways more clumsy than effective.

One of its stranger spinoffs was the grandiose, tactically clumsy Symbionese Liberation Army — an army of perhaps a dozen white men and women led by a black escaped convict.

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