adjective
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awkward because of size, weight, or shape
cumbersome baggage
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difficult because of extent or complexity
cumbersome accounts
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cumbersome
First recorded in 1325–75, cumbersome is from the Middle English word cummyrsum. See cumber, -some 1
Explanation
You have to wrestle a bit with the longish word cumbersome; it's cumbersome, or kind of long and clumsy, to tumble out in a sentence. It's hard to use it gracefully. A "cumber" is something that slows you down, and though the words aren't related, "lumber" includes big pieces of heavy wood, which might slow down the person carrying them. Moving lumber is cumbersome, because it's a heavy and awkward job. Getting your laundry down the stairs or putting a Rottweiler in the bathtub can be cumbersome too.
Vocabulary lists containing cumbersome
Essential Academic Vocabulary for High School Students, List 2
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ACT Vocabulary List
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100 SAT words Beginning with "C"
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Iran's top diplomat Abbas Araghchi, in an intervew with CNN published Sunday, described negotiating with Washington as "very cumbersome".
From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026
Some half-a-dozen foreign tourists that the BBC spoke to also blamed longer and more cumbersome visa procedures and a hike in the five-year visa fees for the decline in visitor numbers.
From BBC ● May 16, 2026
Sky Canaves, a retail and e-commerce analyst at eMarketer, said that along with those concerns, the process of shopping with AI assistants is cumbersome, often steering customers to retailers’ websites to finish purchases.
From MarketWatch ● May 13, 2026
The libretto is cumbersome although full of dramatic promise and surprise and with a comic episode that prefigures “Falstaff.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 29, 2026
Sympathy could start a fire without flint or lift a heavy weight without cumbersome ropes and pulleys.
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
