ungainly
Syllables: un·gain·lyUK/ʌnˈɡeɪnli/
More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations
Australia/anˈɡæɪnli/
ungainly adjective: clumsy; lacking grace.
Adjective
ungainly (comparative ungainlier or more ungainly, superlative ungainliest or most ungainly)
- Clumsy; lacking grace.
- They being a very ſilly ſort of People, had no other way to ſhew their Spight and Reſentment, than by making Mouths at the Dutch as they paſſed by, and ſometimes Spitting upon them. To break them of that ungainly Cuſtom, we made a reſolution amongſt us, never to let any paſs by that did ſo, whether...1700, Christopher Fryke, Christopher Schewitzer, “chapter VII”, in S. L., transl., A Relation of Two Several Voyages Made into the East-Indies, by Christopher Fryke, Surg. and Christopher Schewitzer....
- When the young scholar [Samuel Johnson] presented himself to the rulers of that society, they were amazed not more by his ungainly figure and eccentric manners than by the quantity of extensive and curious information which he had picked up during many months of desultory, but not unprofitable...1857 March, Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Samuel Johnson”, in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, volume XIV, number LXXXII, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, publishers, 327 to 335 Pearl Street, Franklin...
- Gangling
- Synonyms:
- gawky
- Difficult to move or to manage; unwieldy.
- My lady brought with her from England a most profane instrument, a lute of ungainlie height, at which Master Higginson looketh doubtfully as if it were an instrument of sin, and methinketh Mistresses Mary and Elizabeth Fenwick thinketh it also […]1896, Emily Malbone Morgan, A Lady of the Olden Time, Hartford, Conn.: Belknap and Warfield, →OCLC, page 42
- Unsuitable; unprofitable.
- And this is the excellency and perfection of a Christian, infinitely above the reach of the proudest moralists; this is the repentance of a Christian, whereby he makes up those defects which were most eminently notorious in the heathen; this is the impression of the humbling spirit, which proud...1850, Henry Hammond, John Fell, “Sermon XXV. Acts xvii. 30. And the times of this ignorance God winked at, but now commandeth all men every where to repent.”, in The Miscellaneous Theological Works...
- For as she could not, alas, select / Twixt ye goodlie and ungainlie, / Why of course 'twas Actions must direct / Her goode opinion,—mainlie.1897, John Aubrey Clark, Selected Verses and Essays, London: Printed for private circulation by Headley Brothers, →OCLC, page 86
Noun
ungainly (plural ungainlies)
- An ungainly person or thing.
- I was completely subdued:—hungry, cold, wet, and chilled, outside and inside, with the weather, and the place, and the people,—but that's a bull, for I saw nobody except two ungainly country footmen, and a fat groom of the chambers who took me to my room, and assigned me one of the ungainlies as...1854, Henry W[hitelock] Torrens, “My Old Gun Screw. [Screw No. 4.]”, in James Hume, compiler, A Selection from the Writings, Prose and Poetical, of the Late Henry W. Torrens, Esq., B.A., Bengal Civil...
- Long lists resulting from the listing technique will often become short poems after you and the student writer's classmates help cull out the unnecessaries, the ungainlies, and the unworthies.1966, Stephen Dunning, Teaching Literature to Adolescents: Poetry, Glenview, Ill.: Scott, Foresman and Company, →OCLC, page 32
Adverb
ungainly (comparative ungainlier or more ungainly, superlative ungainliest or most ungainly)
- In an ungainly or unbecoming manner; improperly; undeservedly, unduly; unsuitably.
ungainly meaning in Malayalam and Kannada
ungainly in Malayalam
- അസമർത്ഥമായ, ഭംഗികേടായ, ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടേറിയ, കോലംകെട്ട
ungainly in Kannada
- ತೊಡಕಿನ, ಅಡ್ಡಾದಿಡ್ಡಿ, ಕುರೂಪದ, ಸುಂದರವಲ್ಲದ, ನಾಜೂಕಾಗಿರದ, ತೊಡಕಾದ
Examples of ungainly in a sentence
- To break them of that ungainly Cuſtom, we made a reſolution amongſt us, never to let any paſs by that did ſo, whether Old or Young, Man or Woman, without giving them a good Box on the Ear.1700, Christopher Fryke, Christopher Schewitzer, “chapter VII”, in S. L., transl., A Relation of Two Several Voyages Made into the...
- Photographs of the Fowler Moguls had always given me the impression of an ungainly design: the sight of them more then confirmed it.1944 November and December, Talisman, “A Broadening Horizon”, in Railway Magazine, page 339:
- His body, though thin, looked oversized and ungainly, his limbs poorly knit together; he appeared to conquer his tendency to awkwardness by making only the smallest, most deliberate of movements.1962, Edward [Ronald] Weismiller, chapter XI, in The Serpent Sleeping, New York, N.Y.: Putnam, →OCLC; republished London; Portland, Or....
Synonyms of ungainly
Forms of ungainly
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | ungainlier |
| comparative | more ungainly |
| superlative | ungainliest |
| superlative | most ungainly |
| alternative form | ungainlie |
| Noun | |
| plural | ungainlies |
| Adverb | |
| comparative | ungainlier |
| comparative | more ungainly |
| superlative | ungainliest |
| superlative | most ungainly |
Origin of ungainly
From un- (“not”) + gainly (“graceful; becoming; proper, suitable; gracious, kindly”) (from gain (“dexterous; convenient, easy, handy; suitable”), from Old Norse gegn (“fit, serviceable; direct, straight; honest; kindly”) + -ly (suffix forming adjectives from nouns)). Compare dialectal Norwegian Nynorsk ugjegnleg (“stubborn; troublesome”).
ungain (from un- + gain (“dexterous; convenient, easy, handy; suitable”)) + -ly.
Words formed from ungainly
Questions about ungainly
- What does ungainly mean?
- Ungainly means clumsy; lacking grace.
- What is ungainly in Malayalam?
- Ungainly in Malayalam is അസമർത്ഥമായ, ഭംഗികേടായ, ബുദ്ധിമുട്ടേറിയ. See Ungainly meaning in Malayalam.
- How do you use ungainly in a sentence?
- To break them of that ungainly Cuſtom, we made a reſolution amongſt us, never to let any paſs by that did ſo, whether Old or Young, Man or Woman, without giving them a good Box on the Ear.
- What part of speech is ungainly?
- Ungainly can be an adjective, a noun or an adverb.
- How do you pronounce ungainly?
- Ungainly is pronounced /ʌnˈɡeɪnli/ (UK).
Words near ungainly in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: ungainly (page history and authors); ungainly (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); ungainly (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). 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-au-ungainly.ogg.
Cite this entry: “ungainly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/ungainly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.