cumbersome

[ kuhm-ber-suhm ]

/ ˈkʌm bər səm /

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cumbersome ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

burdensome; troublesome.

unwieldy; clumsy.

Nearby words

Origin of cumbersome

First recorded in 1325–75, cumbersome is from the Middle English word cummyrsum. See cumber, -some¹

SYNONYMS FOR cumbersome

1. heavy, weighty, onerous. 2. awkward.

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR cumbersome ON THESAURUS.COM

Related formscum·ber·some·ly, adverbcum·ber·some·ness, noun

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for cumbersome

“The process of getting the approval is too slow and is too cumbersome,” Rogers said.
ISIS Fight Has a Spy Shortage, Intel Chair Says|Kimberly Dozier|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
Cunningham was blown away by HyperCard when he first saw it, but he found it cumbersome.
You Can Look It Up: The Wikipedia Story|Walter Isaacson|October 19, 2014|DAILY BEAST
But the technology, while powerful, is cumbersome and takes anywhere from 12 hours to four days to yield a result.
This New Ebola Test Is As Easy As a Pregnancy Test, So Why Aren’t We Using It?|Abby Haglage|October 3, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Making ice cream was cumbersome, too, so for a long time only the elite could afford to eat it.
An Investigation Into the Delicious Origins of Ice Cream|Andrew Romano|July 13, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Second, the dismissal process for ineffective teachers is so cumbersome and costly that it rarely works as it should.
Vergara v. California: The Most Important Court Case You’ve Never Heard Of|Campbell Brown|May 29, 2014|DAILY BEAST
The cabman whips up the horse and, turning round, begins swearing at the heavy and cumbersome luggage.
The Schoolmistress and Other Stories|Anton Chekhov
A blocking press is now, in consequence of the size of many of the blocks, a large and cumbersome machine.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 4, Slice 2|Various
We may shed our cumbersome pedestrian habits, but we take up in the air with us our petty souls.
Unicorns|James Huneker
Its movements are said to be very clumsy and erratic, as if its self-imposed burden was too cumbersome for its strength.
Tropic Days|E. J. Banfield
She would treat the cumbersome object as she would a piece of old plaster.
Bramble-bees and Others|J. Henri Fabre

British Dictionary definitions for cumbersome

cumbersome

cumbrous (ˈkʌmbrəs)

/ (ˈkʌmbəsəm) /

adjective

awkward because of size, weight, or shapecumbersome baggage

difficult because of extent or complexitycumbersome accounts

Derived Formscumbersomely or cumbrously, adverbcumbersomeness or cumbrousness, noun

Word Origin for cumbersome

C14: cumber, short for encumber + -some 1

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

Word Origin and History for cumbersome

cumbersome

adj.

late 14c., from cumber (v.) + -some (1). Meaning "unwieldy, hard to carry" is from 1590s. Related: Cumbersomely; cumbersomeness.

cumbersome

adjective

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Nearby words

Origin of cumbersome

Examples from the Web for cumbersome

cumbersome

cumbrous (ˈkʌmbrəs)

adjective

Word Origin for cumbersome

cumbersome