Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- adj. Difficult to handle because of weight or bulk. See Synonyms at heavy.
- adj. Troublesome or onerous.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- Burdensome; troublesome; embarrassing; vexatious: as, “cumbersome obedience,”
- Inconvenient; awkward; unwieldy; unmanageable; not easily borne or managed: as, a cumbersome load; a cumbersome machine.
Wiktionary
- adj. burdensome or hindering, as a weight or drag; vexatious; cumbrous.
- adj. Not easily managed or handled; awkward
- adj. Hard, difficult, demanding to handle or get around with
GNU Webster's 1913
- adj. Burdensome or hindering, as a weight or drag; embarrassing; vexatious; cumbrous.
- adj. Not easily managed.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. difficult to handle or use especially because of size or weight
- adj. not elegant or graceful in expression
Examples
“That results in cumbersome procedures for many passengers.”
The Wall Street Journal: Air Passenger Screening Draws New Scrutiny
“It also seems to me that on the core amnesty point, what the negotiators came up with was simultaneously unduly cumbersome from a humanitarian point of view while also not in any way appeasing restrictionist concerns.”
“In this “liberalised” regime why create, innovate and trade in cumbersome goods when one can make far more far quickly and with far less risk just by moving money (data) and money instruments between computers around the world?”
Coyote Blog » Blog Archive » What Climate Change Intevenionists Need to Prove
“Italy is the last country to hold out against the European arrest warrant that lists 32 different crimes, including the hard-to-define one of xenophobia, that will do away what is often described as the cumbersome system of extradition.”
“In contrast to all of this, Canada's approach to government intervention appears cumbersome, is reactive and apologetic, and in the end our methods are simply obsolete.”
“The most likely outcome of the grand-jury investigation, experts said, would be a report recommending administrative changes, which Dan Castleman , former chief of investigations at the Manhattan district attorney's office called a "cumbersome process" that could take years.”
“As a user, I find it cumbersome, which is something to seriously consider when choosing a blogging tool.”
Are You Using the Right Blogging Tool – Over the Long Term « Lorelle on WordPress
“Everything we did was either in a spreadsheet or Word document, or through e-mail," Maher, recalls the cumbersome manual process.”
“They are not the suits you would actually use: the aim here is simulation, not replication, so they are merely very cumbersome, which is what the real suits would have to be.”
“Efforts to streamline local government, largely tabled this year as legislators grappled with property-tax issues, could gain momentum under a new coalition that is pushing for changes in a system described as cumbersome and redundant.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cumbersome’.
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Test Prep or Just for fun
Building a list for standardized test prep or just for learning some new words! Please add any words that you feel are important for the SAT/GRE/GMAT etc...
throng, morass, parley, facile, kismet, strife, jetsam, carrion, annex, harbinger, vestige, surreptitious and 575 more...
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GRE Barrons Wordlist
A complete Barron's Wordlist for GRE preparation. Your online flashcard replacement.
abase, abash, abate, abbreviate, abdicate, aberrant, aberration, abet, abeyance, abhor, abject, abjure and 4087 more...
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hunting
crudely, unequivocal, obsolete, obscure, overtly, misdeed, shack, inherent, outcry, hefty, composed, poised and 318 more...
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GRE 2014
abase, abate, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abjure, abortive, abound, abrasive, abreast, abridge and 1577 more...
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-some
How I love that old English suffix
tricksome, winsome, meddlesome, handsome, fulsome, lonesome, lovesome, noisome, wholesome, loathsome, cumbersome, lustsome and 16 more...
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October Words-11337
During the month of October, post at least 10 new words to this list. Make sure you cite where you read the word (book/author/pg) and quote the context/sentence where you found it. If someone has a...
amplification, till, osmosis, osmoregulation, pinocytosis, junction, transduction, paralysis, afflicted, isotonic, diverse, entrenched and 48 more...
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Words from books I've read
These are some words I didn't know when I read and now I want to know!
Scribble, Newfangled, swift, swathe, budget, obstreperous, trickle, rank, covetous, scratch, hunch, dodge and 179 more...
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ChortleGiggleSnort
Significant Words- Guiding you on your path to Snazzibility
flimsy, feeble, ranting, ramble, narky, snazzy, yoghurt, bulbous, pustule, globulous, geranium, megalomaniac and 521 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
thunderfuck, incredible, merp, sara, flopparoo, smother, fugly, buer, plum, canny, nefelibata, cuntbucket and 1972 more... -
Faves
nepenthe, cupidity, anodyne, obdurate, doleful, obsolescent, quale, piquant, velleity, inchoate, disport, facile and 366 more...
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collection
sanguine, vie, antebellum, glacial, treacly, iconoclast, lissom, anathema, serendipity, parsimonious, histrionic, contemptuous and 279 more...
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ADW1
obdurate, obstinate, behest, injunction, enjoin, circumspect, ensconce, discursive, lugubrious, doleful, somber, ken and 2476 more...
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Revised GRE Wordlist_2013
Vocabulary building for my quest of GRE 2013
ephemeral, esoteric, rhetoric, censure, egregious, pittance, dupe, mulct, paucity, alacrity, maintain, laconic and 997 more...
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G & G
GRE , GMAT , TOEFL , IELTS , SAT 。。。
alphabet soup, vernacular, aberrant, abeyance, abet, recant, contrite, reiterate, patois, skew, senate, deliberative and 179 more...
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NakedFringe's Words
masticate, chamber, orchid, mandolin, yellow, pomegranate, conundrum, paradox, gyrate, calamitous, opalescent, cacophony and 533 more...
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out of interest
lithesome, wholesome, gruesome, tiresome, worrisome, cumbersome, lonesome, loathsome, burdensome, fearsome, wearisome, irksome and 97 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cumbersome.

mattaustin I found this word in the new surfer mag. By Jhon Sage, The beaches filled with cumberson waves and spiral barrels brought surfers from everywhere
Oct 28, 2010