Clumsy

adj, noun, slang

adj, noun, slang ·2 syllables ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A clumsy person. informal

    "On the stairs he met Ellen, the housemaid, and as he passed her he knocked the hot-water jug out of her hand. “Well, you are a clumsy,” said Ellen, as she bent down to mop up the water."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Awkward, lacking coordination, not graceful, not dextrous.

    "He's very clumsy. I wouldn't trust him with carrying the dishes."

  2. 2
    Not elegant or well-planned, lacking tact or subtlety.

    "It is a clumsy solution, but it might work for now."

  3. 3
    Awkward or inefficient in use or construction, difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape.
Adjective
  1. 1
    not elegant or graceful in expression wordnet
  2. 2
    lacking grace in movement or posture wordnet
  3. 3
    showing lack of skill or aptitude wordnet
  4. 4
    difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms
bunglingcumbersomeungainlyheavy handedlumpall thumbs

Example

More examples

"The clumsy man envied her extraordinary talent."

Etymology

Possibly from an alteration of clumsed (“benumbed”) or from clumse (“a stupid fellow; lout”) + -y. More at clumse.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.