cumbrous

American  

[kuhm-bruhs] / ˈkʌm brəs /

adjective

1. cumbersome.

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Other Word Forms

• cumbrously adverb
• cumbrousness noun
• noncumbrous adjective
• noncumbrously adverb
• noncumbrousness noun
• uncumbrous adjective
• uncumbrously adverb
• uncumbrousness noun

Etymology

Origin of cumbrous

First recorded in 1325–75, cumbrous is from the Middle English word cumberous. See cumber, -ous

Explanation

Anything cumbrous is large and unwieldy. You might successfully build a huge, bulky desk from lumber you find in the garage, but how are you going to fit the cumbrous thing through your bedroom door? It's a good idea to take off your cumbrous hockey uniform — pads, helmet, skates — before you get in the car after practice. This adjective has a more commonly-used synonym, cumbersome, but you may find cumbrous to be slightly less long and clumsy. In other words, it's a bit less cumbrous! Both words come from the old-fashioned verb cumber, "to trouble or hinder."

Example Sentences

The Road Home Program, a state program supposed to help rebuild, was cumbrous and slow, and grants often didn’t cover the cost of repairs.

From Washington Times • Sep. 1, 2017

This cumbrous and costly apparatus kept the field to itself for some time.”

From Salon • Feb. 23, 2014

Set in a luxuriant landscape — 11,000 acres of swaying sugar cane, and terrain resembling an upside-down egg carton — is cumbrous industrial equipment for producing spirits.

From New York Times • Feb. 21, 2014

John Gielgud, playing Othello at Stratford in 1961, was less happy, complaining that Hall's costumes were "beautiful but cumbrous" and that the elaborate production stalled while Zeffirelli leafed through "his damned press cuttings".

From The Guardian • Jun. 24, 2010

Only the cumbrous irony of his tone made her feel unreal herself—made her unable to put her own words simply.

From "The Once and Future King" by T. H. White