lumbering

[luhm-ber-ing]

noun

1. the trade or business of cutting and preparing lumber.

lumbering

¹

/ ˈlʌmbərɪŋ /

adjective

1. awkward in movement

2. moving with a rumbling sound

lumbering

²

/ ˈlʌmbərɪŋ /

noun

1. the business or trade of cutting, transporting, preparing, or selling timber

Other Word Forms

• unlumbering adjective
• lumberingness noun
• lumberingly adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of lumbering¹

First recorded in 1765–75; lumber ¹ + -ing ¹

Example Sentences

I prepare to jump into a roast contest when a roar suddenly sounds from the forest in front of us—and I think I see a huge form lumbering toward us.

Read more on Literature

Bears came lumbering down from the hills, and fish jumped up from the ponds, and vultures circled above.

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Part of Melissa's punch stems from its slow pace: it is lumbering along slower than most people walk, at just three miles per hour or less.

Read more on Barron's

If Europe can’t concentrate spending, its startups will struggle to grow or shake up the continent’s lumbering military sector as U.S. startups are doing in Washington, say investors and founders.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Climate change, he claimed to audible gasps, was "the greatest con job ever perpetrated on the world" and was lumbering European countries with expensive energy costs compared to fossil fuels.

Read more on BBC

Related Words

• hulking 
• ungainly 
• unwieldy