clumsy
UK/ˈklʌmzi/
clumsy adjective: awkward, lacking coordination, not graceful, not dextrous.
Adjective
clumsy (comparative clumsier, superlative clumsiest)
- Awkward, lacking coordination, not graceful, not dextrous.
- He's very clumsy. I wouldn't trust him with carrying the dishes.
- Not elegant or well-planned, lacking tact or subtlety.
- It is a clumsy solution, but it might work for now.
- What a clumsy joke
- Awkward or inefficient in use or construction, difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape.
Noun
clumsy (plural clumsies)
- A clumsy person.
- 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.1934, P[amela] L[yndon] Travers, “Bad Tuesday”, in Mary Poppins (Mary Poppins; 1), London: Gerald Howe Ltd […], →OCLC, page 82
- Synonyms:
- butterfingers, galoot, klutz
clumsy meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali
clumsy in Hindi
- awkward, lacking coordination, not graceful, not dextrous
- बेढंगा beḍhaṅgā, बेसलीक़ा beslīqā, फूहड़ phūhaṛ
- not elegant or well-planned
- भद्दा bhaddā, बेढंगा beḍhaṅgā, बेडौल beḍaul
- awkward or inefficient in use or construction
- भद्दा bhaddā, बेढंगा beḍhaṅgā, हबड़ा habṛā, बेडौल beḍaul
clumsy in Tamil
- அமைப்புக் கேடான, அருவருப்பான, செயல் நயமற்ற
clumsy in Urdu
- اناڑی, بھونڈا
clumsy in Bengali
- clumsy, inept
- আনাড়ি anaṛi
More languagesFewer languages
- clumsy in Malayalam
- വിരൂപമായ, വികൃതമായ, വിലക്ഷണമായ
- clumsy in Kannada
- ಒಡ್ಡಾದ, ಒರಟಾದ, ನಾಜೂಕಿಲ್ಲದ, ನವಿರಿಲ್ಲದ
- clumsy in Nepali
- अनाड़ी
- clumsy in Tagalog
- asiwa
- clumsy in Arabic
- أَخْرَق ʔaḵraq
- clumsy in Persian
- چلفتی čolofti, قناس qenâs, چُلاغ čolâġ/čulāġ
- clumsy in Thai
- ซุ่มซ่าม sûm-sâam, เงอะงะ ngə́-ngá
- clumsy in Vietnamese
- vụng về
Examples of clumsy in a sentence
- The son's clumsy paintings are a pale imitation of his father's.
- The clumsy filing system has been a huge headache.
- My clumsy fingers frustrate my typing efforts.
Synonyms of clumsy
Forms of clumsy
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | clumsier |
| superlative | clumsiest |
| Noun | |
| plural | clumsies |
Origin of clumsy
Possibly from an alteration of clumsed (“benumbed”) or from clumse (“a stupid fellow; lout”) + -y. More at clumse.
Words formed from clumsy
Questions about clumsy
- What does clumsy mean?
- Clumsy means awkward, lacking coordination, not graceful, not dextrous.
- What is clumsy in Hindi?
- Clumsy in Hindi is बेढंगा (beḍhaṅgā), बेसलीक़ा (beslīqā), फूहड़ (phūhaṛ). See Clumsy meaning in Hindi.
- What part of speech is clumsy?
- Clumsy can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce clumsy?
- Clumsy is pronounced /ˈklʌmzi/ (UK).
Words near clumsy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: clumsy (page history and authors); clumsy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clumsy (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); আনাড়ি (Bengali) (page history and authors); clumsy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clumsy (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); clumsy (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-clumsy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “clumsy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/clumsy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.