adjective
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awkward because of size, weight, or shape
cumbersome baggage
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difficult because of extent or complexity
cumbersome accounts
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of cumbersome
First recorded in 1325–75, cumbersome is from the Middle English word cummyrsum. See cumber, -some 1
Explanation
You have to wrestle a bit with the longish word cumbersome; it's cumbersome, or kind of long and clumsy, to tumble out in a sentence. It's hard to use it gracefully. A "cumber" is something that slows you down, and though the words aren't related, "lumber" includes big pieces of heavy wood, which might slow down the person carrying them. Moving lumber is cumbersome, because it's a heavy and awkward job. Getting your laundry down the stairs or putting a Rottweiler in the bathtub can be cumbersome too.
Vocabulary lists containing cumbersome
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 2
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ACT Vocabulary List
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Cumbersome documentation requirements have kept many people from getting the money they need to avoid eviction.
From New York Times • Jul. 31, 2021
Cumbersome as all this would be, I felt lucky to have found a ride at all.
From Slate • Jun. 23, 2016
Friday: The two finest breweries on the Delmarva peninsula recently collaborated to make Pants Are Cumbersome, a limited-release sour stout brewed with rye and beach plums.
From Washington Post • Feb. 25, 2016
Cumbersome customs procedures and poor rail links explain why the export capacity of Vladivostok’s port is minuscule compared with similar ports in neighbouring countries.
From Economist • Sep. 6, 2012
Cumbersome fish wheels revolve sedately where the silver-sided salmon run in the springtime.
From In the Oregon Country Out-Doors in Oregon, Washington, and California Together with some Legendary Lore, and Glimpses of the Modern West in the Making by Putnam, George Palmer
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
