lumbering

American  

[luhm-ber-ing] / ˈlʌm bər ɪŋ /

noun

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

---

lumbering ¹ British  

/ ˈlʌmbərɪŋ /

adjective

1. awkward in movement

2. moving with a rumbling sound

---

lumbering ² British  

/ ˈlʌmbərɪŋ /

noun

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

---

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• lumberingly
  adverb
• unlumbering
  adjective
• lumberingness
  noun

Etymology

Origin of lumbering

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

Explanation

Someone who's lumbering moves in a heavy, ungainly way. The big, lumbering players on a football team tend to play defensive positions like lineman. You might normally skip lightly down the street, but when you're carrying two big suitcases and wearing a heavy backpack, you'll be a lumbering figure slowly making your way along the sidewalk. Your toy poodle might move easily, while your giant 150-pound Mastiff is a lumbering, drooling companion. This adjective comes from the verb lumber, from the earlier lomere, which has a Scandinavian root.

Example Sentences

Convoys of French and British armored vehicles lumbering down rural roads or stopping outside of convenience stores for their occupants’ quick snack and coffee breaks have become routine in eastern Estonia.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 28, 2026

Costing A$136,000, the artwork represents a mythical megafauna, with the sculpture's designers inspired by an ancient marsupial ant-eater found in local caves that was "massive, lumbering and fascinating".

From BBC • Mar. 25, 2026

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.

From Barron's • Oct. 27, 2025

Through literary references and tidbits of history alongside descriptions of dazzling biology, Rundell conjures a parade of swimming, crawling, flapping, lumbering life.

From Salon • Dec. 31, 2024

Spread to the horizon was an army of monsters—flocks of winged arai, tribes of lumbering Cyclopes, clusters of floating evil spirits.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

Related Words

• hulking
• ungainly
• unwieldy