Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Lacking physical coordination, skill, or grace; awkward.
  • adjective Awkwardly constructed; unwieldy.
  • adjective Gauche; inept.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Stiffened with cold; benumbed.
  • Acting as if benumbed; awkward; ungainly; unhandy; uncouth; without expertness, dexterity, tact, or grace: as, a clumsy workman; a clumsy wooer.
  • Manifesting awkwardness; ill-contrived or ill-managed; awkwardly combined, arranged, or used: as, a clumsy movement; clumsy sentences.
  • So made as to be unwieldy in certain or in all uses; heavily built; large and heavy; not manageable, light, or graceful.
  • Awkward in appearance or use; unfamiliar; anomalous; outré.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective obsolete Stiff or benumbed, as with cold.
  • adjective Without skill or grace; wanting dexterity, nimbleness, or readiness; stiff; awkward, as if benumbed; unwieldy; unhandy; hence; ill-made, misshapen, or inappropriate.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective awkward, lacking coordination, not graceful, not dextrous
  • adjective Not elegant or well-planned, lacking tact or subtlety
  • adjective awkward or inefficient in use or construction, difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape
  • noun informal A clumsy person.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape
  • adjective showing lack of skill or aptitude
  • adjective lacking grace in movement or posture
  • adjective not elegant or graceful in expression

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From obsolete clumse, to be numb with cold, from Middle English clomsen, of Scandinavian origin.]

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Examples

  • Cannon has now apologized for what he calls his clumsy shorthand, saying he meant he wasn't to provide more news and information about the church.

    CNN Transcript Jun 22, 2008 2008

  • Instead, an old wooden pane was hung on its metal gate and bore the company's name in clumsy handwriting -- New Asia Strong Biochemical LTD.

    Xiu Min Li: "Look for Self-Help in Time of Disaster, Not the Party" Xiu Min Li 2010

  • The film lurches forward in clumsy and confusing sequences, with overacting and illogical behavior ruling the roost.

    Current Movie Reviews, Independent Movies - Film Threat 2010

  • Instead, an old wooden pane was hung on its metal gate and bore the company's name in clumsy handwriting -- New Asia Strong Biochemical LTD.

    Xiu Min Li: "Look for Self-Help in Time of Disaster, Not the Party" Xiu Min Li 2010

  • It began as a kind of mockery of the music, this dancing that we did, leaping across the living room, prancing over the sofa and the chairs and raising our hands in clumsy ballet poses; but soon, we began to play this record and bellow out the melody, the shift in instrumentation — the movements, the various parts the dialogue between firsts and seconds and so on, while leaping about the place.

    Music : Kwame Dawes : Harriet the Blog : The Poetry Foundation 2007

  • He noticed the rest of us cracking up over the "No Justice/No Quiche" Free Martha t-shirts -- I had a really hard time explaining (in clumsy Spanish) the concept of quiche, and how the word quiche had nothing to do with the Quiché Maya people, who Martha Stewart was, and how all of this related to protest slogans from the American civil rights movement.

    Boing Boing: March 28, 2004 - April 3, 2004 Archives 2004

  • The workmen were surprised to get a visitor and willingly showed me around the six enormous cell blocks which radiate in clumsy spokes from a central courtyard and administration building.

    Burma 1971

  • The workmen were surprised to get a visitor and willingly showed me around the six enormous cell blocks which radiate in clumsy spokes from a central courtyard and administration building.

    Burma 1971

  • It would be a brave man who would predict that such a process will always remain clumsy, slow, and faulty in detail.

    As We May Think 1969

  • It would be a brave man who would predict that such a process will always remain clumsy, slow, and faulty in detail.

    As We May Think 1945

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