incommodious
Americanadjective
adjective
-
insufficiently spacious; cramped
-
troublesome or inconvenient
Other Word Forms
- incommodiously adverb
- incommodiousness noun
Etymology
Origin of incommodious
First recorded in 1545–55; in- 3 + commodious
Explanation
Incommodious is an adjective that describes something that is uncomfortable or inconvenient, especially by being awkwardly small. If you had visions of a roomy office coming with your new promotion, guess again. The new incommodious space barely has room for a desk and a chair! Incommodious is made up of the Latin root words in, meaning "not," and commodious from commodiosus, meaning "useful or convenient." Because commodious in English has a meaning of roomy and spacious, incommodious sometimes takes the opposite meaning of small and cramped. However, incommodious can refer to anything that is inconvenient. You may have to make an incommodious trip to the dentist if you break a tooth.
Vocabulary lists containing incommodious
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.
The industry first consolidated and then, under the auspices of Harold Wilson and Roy Jenkins, started its collapse into the relatively incommodious entity it is today.
From The Guardian • Aug. 29, 2012
Within, the stockade was cramped, some five hundred men gathered in a small and incommodious yard between tents.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume II: The Kingdom on the Waves" by M.T. Anderson
The buildings are of free stone, beautifully polished, and of recent erection, the old buildings, which were unsightly and incommodious, having been taken down to make way for this elegant and spacious structure.
From The Genius of Scotland or Sketches of Scottish Scenery, Literature and Religion by Turnbull, Robert
If he will profit by this experience I will gladly suffer the incommodious ride.”
From The Fighting Edge by Raine, William MacLeod
The path was well beaten, but rendered incommodious by the large stones which lay along it.
From Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793 Vol. II by Mackenzie, Alexander
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.
