incommodious

American  

[in-kuh-moh-dee-uhs] / ˌɪn kəˈmoʊ di əs /

adjective

1. inconvenient, as not affording sufficient space or room; uncomfortable.

   incommodious hotel accommodations.

---

incommodious British  

/ ˌɪnkəˈməʊdɪəs /

adjective

1. insufficiently spacious; cramped

2. troublesome or inconvenient

---

Other Word Forms

• incommodiousness
  noun
• incommodiously
  adverb

Etymology

Origin of incommodious

First recorded in 1545–55; in- ³ + commodious

Explanation

Incommodious is an adjective that describes something that is uncomfortable or inconvenient, especially by being awkwardly small. If you had visions of a roomy office coming with your new promotion, guess again. The new incommodious space barely has room for a desk and a chair! Incommodious is made up of the Latin root words in, meaning "not," and commodious from commodiosus, meaning "useful or convenient." Because commodious in English has a meaning of roomy and spacious, incommodious sometimes takes the opposite meaning of small and cramped. However, incommodious can refer to anything that is inconvenient. You may have to make an incommodious trip to the dentist if you break a tooth.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

incommodious

The industry first consolidated and then, under the auspices of Harold Wilson and Roy Jenkins, started its collapse into the relatively incommodious entity it is today.

From The Guardian ● Aug. 29, 2012

Within, the stockade was cramped, some five hundred men gathered in a small and incommodious yard between tents.

From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson

"There were carpets on every floor, chairs that were moveable, mirrors that reflected, sofas to sink on, footstools to stumble over; in a word, all the incommodious commodities of my own cabin in Kildare street."

From The American Quarterly Review, No. 17, March 1831 by Robert Walsh

It makes but a mean Appearance, and the Apartments are low, incommodious, and very much exposed to the Sun.

From The Memoirs of Charles-Lewis, Baron de Pollnitz, Volume II Being the Observations He Made in His Late Travels From Prussia thro' Germany, Italy, France, Flanders, Holland, England, &C. in Letters to His Friend. Discovering Not Only the Present State of the Chief Cities and Towns; but the Characters of the Principal Persons at the Several Courts. by Karl Ludwig von P?llnitz

It is true they do sometimes, for these reasons, go without the road, and ride or walk in very incommodious ways.

From The Jacobite Rebellions (1689-1746) (Bell's Scottish History Source Books.) by James Pringle Thomson