clumsy
Americanadjective
-
clumsier,
comparative
-
clumsiest
superlative
-
awkward in movement or action; without skill or grace.
He is very clumsy and is always breaking things.
- Synonyms:
- lubberly, lumbering, ungainly, ungraceful
-
awkwardly done or made; unwieldy; ill-contrived.
He made a clumsy, embarrassed apology.
- Synonyms:
- inept, heavy-handed, bumbling, inexpert, maladroit, unskillful, unhandy
adjective
-
lacking in skill or physical coordination
-
awkwardly constructed or contrived
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of clumsy
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
Explanation
Someone clumsy is a klutz. They're awkward, ungraceful, and walk like they have two left feet. Something hard to handle — like a huge box — is also clumsy. A badly told story is told in a clumsy way, and a couch that's hard to move clumsy to carry. But mostly being clumsy is embarrassing. Dropping things, tripping a lot, and stumbling are all examples of clumsiness. Clumsy people usually aren't too good at sports or dancing. And you certainly don't want a clumsy surgeon. Most people are a little clumsy when they're teenagers — growing so fast makes it hard to be sure of yourself physically.
Vocabulary lists containing clumsy
Awkward Moments
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"Dulce et Decorum Est," by Wilfred Owen
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List 5
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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.
See Examples For:
"They're so funny looking. There's something about the very oversized bill, their behaviour on some of the trail camera footage, the nuzzling behaviour. And they're also so clumsy."
From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026
One unquestionable element is its success in raising the low estimation of Green Lantern created by a particularly clumsy movie, simply by imagining possibilities in much bigger terms.
From Salon ● Aug. 14, 2026
Popular culture has often depicted the dodo as clumsy and unintelligent, sometimes suggesting that its extinction was almost unavoidable.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 9, 2026
The middle stretch has a concocted outdoor chase sequence that feels like a clumsy campground slasher.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
She’s light as air—doesn’t miss a step, and that’s a feat considering how clumsy I am.
From "Water for Elephants" by Sara Gruen
Using the blower to herd balls around the park feels fairly intuitive, though naturally I'm much clumsier and slower than the pro landscapers.
From BBC ● Aug. 20, 2026
They have to be tilted into a dumpster that is moved into position, but Alexander makes the comic most of these clumsier stage mechanics.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2026
Camille was funnier and weirder and clumsier — and happier.
From Salon ● May 30, 2025
And indeed, in clumsier hands, the episodic humiliations of Less, “this slapstick, ridiculous, zigzagging queer,” might quickly pall.
From Washington Post ● Sep. 26, 2022
Tiny feet were fashionable, but would they make me even clumsier as I grew taller?
From "Ella Enchanted" by Gail Carson Levine
But there’s an earnest, yearning passion here that makes the film feel vital even at its clumsiest.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 3, 2023
“Eminem hits clunker after clunker on “Revival,” his clumsiest record to date.
From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2018
The seven-speed Chevrolet Corvette Stingray has a feature called Active Rev Matching, which automatically adjusts the engine’s speed to smooth out your clumsiest shifts—something drivers once had to learn through practice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 24, 2018
The poor girl tumbled onto the ice as if she were the world’s clumsiest 15-year-old, milliseconds after she had appeared to be the most graceful one.
From New York Times ● Feb. 20, 2014
I was the clumsiest, worst party butler Mrs. Dawson ever had, and to her everlasting credit, she did not fire me right away.
From "The Color of Water: A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother" by James McBride
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.
