cumbersome
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English cumbyrsum, cummyrsum; equivalent to cumber (“hindrance”) + -some.
Pronunciation edit
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˈkʌmbəsəm/
- (US) IPA(key): /ˈkʌmbɚsəm/
Audio (Southern England) (file)
Adjective edit
cumbersome (comparative more cumbersome, superlative most cumbersome)
- Burdensome or hindering, as if a weight or drag; vexatious
- 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume III, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 54:
- "You can throw off your cumbersome disguise here," said Lucy, though the words could scarcely be distinguished, from her excessive agitation, Evelyn hastily caught up a cloak and cap laid ready for him, and a few minutes brought them into the sitting-room.
- Not easily managed or handled; awkward; clumsy.
- Cumbersome machines can endanger operators and slow down production.
- Hard, difficult, demanding to handle or get around with.
- A slave’s work was as cumbersome as toiling on the fields, or in the mines.
- Inert, lumbering, slow in movement
Synonyms edit
- cumbrous
- lumpish (obsolete)
- unwieldy
- See also Thesaurus:difficult
Derived terms edit
Translations edit
burdensome or hindering, as if a weight or drag; vexatious; cumbrous
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not easily managed or handled; awkward
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hard, difficult, demanding to handle
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inert, lumbering, slow in movement
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.