clumsy
awkward in movement or action; without skill or grace: He is very clumsy and is always breaking things.
awkwardly done or made; unwieldy; ill-contrived: He made a clumsy, embarrassed apology.
Origin of clumsy
1Other words for clumsy
Opposites for clumsy
Other words from clumsy
- clum·si·ly, adverb
- clum·si·ness, noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use clumsy in a sentence
More clumsily, fireworks stand in for the Big Bang and a potato and peas are invoked to explain relativity.
He clumsily sipped from the dainty straw of a blasphemously non-bourbon beverage and smiled broadly as he talked to fellow bros.
Bruder, who teaches at Western Carolina University, says the techniques in The Flames of War often are handled clumsily.
Schaeffer is at least trying, if somewhat clumsily, to put them into conversation.
After firing that off, he clumsily asked what a plantation mentality is.
Donald Sterling’s Insane Attempt at Damage Control Fails Miserably | Nina Strochlic | May 13, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Talpers sought to detain him, but the Chinese hurried back to his old white horse and climbed clumsily into the saddle.
Mystery Ranch | Arthur ChapmanMeanwhile the old lady climbed not without difficulty up the rough, clumsily built staircase, with a rope by way of a hand-rail.
An Episode Under the Terror | Honore de BalzacBefore she could answer, he had actually blushed, wheeled clumsily, and gone hastily back.
The Woman Gives | Owen JohnsonHe took the battered volume—a pamphlet clumsily encased in boards, and drew his hand across its rough sides caressingly.
A Hoosier Chronicle | Meredith NicholsonAstonished at the splendor of her diamonds, he had in his own court clumsily asked if they were all real.
The Life of Napoleon Bonaparte | William Milligan Sloane
British Dictionary definitions for clumsy
/ (ˈklʌmzɪ) /
lacking in skill or physical coordination
awkwardly constructed or contrived
Origin of clumsy
1Derived forms of clumsy
- clumsily, adverb
- clumsiness, noun
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
Browse