unwieldy
UK/ˌʌnˈwɪəl.di/
unwieldy adjective: lacking strength; weak.
Adjective
unwieldy (comparative more unwieldy or (archaic) unwieldier, superlative most unwieldy or (archaic) unwieldiest)
- Lacking strength; weak.
- Ungraceful in movement.
- Difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate because of its size, weight, shape or complexity.
- She is popular with passengers as an all-weather vessel, but rather the reverse with yachtsmen as she has at times proved somewhat unwieldy, and certainly takes up a good deal of space in the narrow channels.1956 February, R. C. Riley, “The Lymington Railway and Isle of Wight Ferry”, in Railway Magazine, page 82
- However, the constellation of Argo Navis was so huge and unwieldy that in the 1932 revision, the International Astronomical Union committee chopped it up into a keel (Carina), a poop (Puppis) and sails (Vela).1985, Patrick Moore, Stargazing: Astronomy without a telescope, Aurum Press, →ISBN, page 18
- Synonyms:
- unmanageable, unwieldsome
- Antonyms:
- wieldy
- Badly managed or operated.
unwieldy meaning in Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Thai
unwieldy in Tamil
- எளிதிற் கையாள முடியாத, எளிதில் எடுத்தாள முடியாத, இயலாத
unwieldy in Malayalam
- കൈയ്ക്കൊതുങ്ങാത്ത, നിയന്ത്രിക്കാനാവാത്ത, ലക്ഷണംകെട്ട
unwieldy in Kannada
- ಹಿಡಿತಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಗದ, ಸಾವಗಿಸಲಾಗದ, ಎತ್ತಲಾಗದ, ಭಾರಿ, ಸ್ಥೂಲ, ಅಗಾಧಗಾತ್ರದ
unwieldy in Thai
- difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- เทอะทะ, อุ้ยอ้าย, ไม่เหมาะมือ, ไม่คล่องตัว
Examples of unwieldy in a sentence
- The railways that would be fused to create the unwieldy Northern Line were the City & South London and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway, known as the 'Hampstead Tube'.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 175:
- Recorded music came in unwieldy packages and odd shapes.2017 February 9, Rob Long, “Why I won’t invest in anything that involves effort”, in The National (UAE):
Synonyms of unwieldy
Antonyms
Forms of unwieldy
| comparative | more unwieldy |
|---|---|
| superlative | most unwieldy |
| comparative (archaic) | unwieldier |
| superlative (archaic) | unwieldiest |
| alternative possibly uncommon (nonstandard) | unwieldly |
Origin of unwieldy
From Middle English unweldy, equivalent to un- + wieldy. Cognate with Old Frisian unweldich, unweldech (“having no power, involuntary”), Middle Dutch onweldich (“having no control or mastery over”), Middle Low German unweldich (“unwieldy”). Compare also Old High German unwaltīg (“powerless”), whence Middle High German unwaltic, German ungewaltig (“powerless, unmighty”).
Words formed from unwieldy
Questions about unwieldy
- What does unwieldy mean?
- Unwieldy means lacking strength; weak.
- What is unwieldy in Tamil?
- Unwieldy in Tamil is எளிதிற் கையாள முடியாத, எளிதில் எடுத்தாள முடியாத, இயலாத. See Unwieldy meaning in Tamil.
- How do you use unwieldy in a sentence?
- The railways that would be fused to create the unwieldy Northern Line were the City & South London and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway, known as the 'Hampstead Tube'.
- What part of speech is unwieldy?
- Unwieldy is an adjective.
- How do you pronounce unwieldy?
- Unwieldy is pronounced /ˌʌnˈwɪəl.di/ (UK).
Words near unwieldy in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: unwieldy (page history and authors); unwieldy (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); unwieldy (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); unwieldy (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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-unwieldy.ogg.
Cite this entry: “unwieldy.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/unwieldy. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.