cumbrous

American  

[kuhm-bruhs] / ˈkʌm brəs /

adjective

1. cumbersome.

---

Other Word Forms

• cumbrously adverb
• cumbrousness noun
• noncumbrous adjective
• noncumbrously adverb
• noncumbrousness noun
• uncumbrous adjective
• uncumbrously adverb
• uncumbrousness noun

Etymology

Origin of cumbrous

First recorded in 1325–75, cumbrous is from the Middle English word cumberous. See cumber, -ous

Explanation

Anything cumbrous is large and unwieldy. You might successfully build a huge, bulky desk from lumber you find in the garage, but how are you going to fit the cumbrous thing through your bedroom door? It's a good idea to take off your cumbrous hockey uniform — pads, helmet, skates — before you get in the car after practice. This adjective has a more commonly-used synonym, cumbersome, but you may find cumbrous to be slightly less long and clumsy. In other words, it's a bit less cumbrous! Both words come from the old-fashioned verb cumber, "to trouble or hinder."

Example Sentences

It turns out that digital television, originally meant as a convenient alternative to clunky cable, can be just as knotty and cumbrous as the business it’s trying to replace.

From New York Times • Mar. 9, 2021

The Road Home Program, a state program supposed to help rebuild, was cumbrous and slow, and grants often didn’t cover the cost of repairs.

From Washington Times • Sep. 1, 2017

This cumbrous and costly apparatus kept the field to itself for some time.”

From Salon • Feb. 23, 2014

John Gielgud, playing Othello at Stratford in 1961, was less happy, complaining that Hall's costumes were "beautiful but cumbrous" and that the elaborate production stalled while Zeffirelli leafed through "his damned press cuttings".

From The Guardian • Jun. 24, 2010

She could write the scene three times over, from three points of view; her excitement was in the prospect of freedom, of being delivered from the cumbrous struggle between good and bad, heroes and villains.

From "Atonement" by Ian McEwan