Link Centre Dictionary

cumbersome

cum·ber·some

UK/ˈkʌmbəsəm/ US/ˈkʌmbɚsəm/ rare

adjective

1.

difficult to handle or use especially because of size or weight

  • “a cumbersome piece of machinery”
  • “cumbrous protective clothing”
Synonyms
Similar
2.

not elegant or graceful in expression

  • “an awkward prose style”
  • “a clumsy apology”
  • “his cumbersome writing style”
  • “if the rumor is true, can anything be more inept than to repeat it now?”

Origin

From Middle English cumbyrsum, cummyrsum; equivalent to cumber (“hindrance”) + -some. Compare encumber and incumbent.

Related words

Word family

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.