lumbering

American  

[luhm-ber-ing] / ˈlʌm bər ɪŋ /

noun

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

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lumbering ¹ British  

/ ˈlʌmbərɪŋ /

adjective

1. awkward in movement

2. moving with a rumbling sound

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lumbering ² British  

/ ˈlʌmbərɪŋ /

noun

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

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Other Word Forms

• lumberingness
  noun
• unlumbering
  adjective
• lumberingly
  adverb

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Etymology

Origin of lumbering

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

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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

See Examples For:

lumbering

The pinniped pup looked around quizzically with large, black eyes before lumbering into the surf with abandon — as only the young can.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 8, 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

Remember, every one of these nimble little sporters you see on the road is displacing a larger, more lumbering alternative that could be drifting into your lane.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 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

Sure enough, lumbering after the centaurs was a battalion of one-eyed ogres, both male and female, each about ten feet tall, wearing armor cobbled out of junkyard metal.

From "The Son of Neptune" by Rick Riordan

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Related Words

• hulking
• ungainly
• unwieldy

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