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View synonyms for cumbersome

cumbersome

[ kuhm-ber-suhm ]

adjective

  1. burdensome; troublesome.

    Synonyms: onerous, weighty, heavy

  2. unwieldy; clumsy.

    Synonyms: awkward



cumbersome

/ ˈkʌmbəsəm; ˈkʌmbrəs /

adjective

  1. awkward because of size, weight, or shape

    cumbersome baggage

  2. difficult because of extent or complexity

    cumbersome accounts

“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012


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Derived Forms

  • ˈcumbersomely, adverb
  • ˈcumbersomeness, noun
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Other Words From

  • cumber·some·ly adverb
  • cumber·some·ness noun
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Word History and Origins

Origin of cumbersome1

First recorded in 1325–75, cumbersome is from the Middle English word cummyrsum. See cumber, -some 1
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Word History and Origins

Origin of cumbersome1

C14: cumber , short for encumber + -some 1
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Example Sentences

“The process of getting the approval is too slow and is too cumbersome,” Rogers said.

Cunningham was blown away by HyperCard when he first saw it, but he found it cumbersome.

But the technology, while powerful, is cumbersome and takes anywhere from 12 hours to four days to yield a result.

Making ice cream was cumbersome, too, so for a long time only the elite could afford to eat it.

Second, the dismissal process for ineffective teachers is so cumbersome and costly that it rarely works as it should.

In that poignant moment of self-revelation Tom's cumbersome machinery of intuition did not fail him.

A gust of wind filled the proa's cumbersome triangular sail and drove her forward.

But we have no need for such cumbersome fixtures in this day of wiring.

A giant figure, grimly grotesque in a cumbersome vacuum suit, swaggered forward.

Benton called the measure "the complex, Fillmore's Presidency cumbersome, expensive, annoying and ineffective fugitive slave law."

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