Clumsy

3 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Clumsy \Clum"sy\, a. [Compar. {Clumsier}; superl. {Clumsiest}.]
     [OE. clumsed benumbed, fr. clumsen to be benumbed; cf. Icel.
     klumsa lockjaw, dial. Sw. klummsen benumbed with cold. Cf.
     1st {Clam}, and 1st {Clamp}.]
     1. Stiff or benumbed, as with cold. [Obs.]
        [1913 Webster]


  
     2. Without skill or grace; wanting dexterity, nimbleness, or
        readiness; stiff; awkward, as if benumbed; unwieldy;
        unhandy; hence; ill-made, misshapen, or inappropriate; as,
        a clumsy person; a clumsy workman; clumsy fingers; a
        clumsy gesture; a clumsy excuse.
        [1913 Webster]
  
              But thou in clumsy verse, unlicked, unpointed,
              Hast shamefully defied the Lord's anointed.
                                                    --Dryden.
  
     Syn: See {Awkward}.
          [1913 Webster]

From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  clumsy
       adj 1: lacking grace in movement or posture; "a gawky lad with long
              ungainly legs"; "clumsy fingers"; "what an ungainly
              creature a giraffe is"; "heaved his unwieldy figure
              out of his chair" [syn: {gawky}, {clunky}, {ungainly},
               {unwieldy}]
       2: not elegant or graceful in expression; "an awkward prose
          style"; "a clumsy apology"; "his cumbersome writing
          style"; "if the rumor is true, can anything be more inept
          than to repeat it now?" [syn: {awkward}, {cumbersome}, {inapt},
           {inept}, {ill-chosen}]
       3: difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape;
          "an awkward bundle to carry"; "a load of bunglesome
          paraphernalia"; "clumsy wooden shoes"; "the cello, a
          rather ungainly instrument for a girl" [syn: {awkward}, {bunglesome},
           {ungainly}]
       4: showing lack of skill or aptitude; "a bungling workman";
          "did a clumsy job"; "his fumbling attempt to put up a
          shelf" [syn: {bungling}, {fumbling}, {incompetent}]
       [also: {clumsiest}, {clumsier}]

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  105 Moby Thesaurus words for "clumsy":
     Doric, all thumbs, awkward, barbaric, barbarous, blunderheaded,
     blundering, boorish, botched, bovine, bulky, bumbling, bungling,
     butterfingered, cacophonous, careless, cloddish, clownish,
     clumsy-fisted, coarse, contrary, crosswise, crude, cumbersome,
     cumbrous, deficient, discommodious, doggerel, dysphemistic,
     elephantine, fingers all thumbs, fumbling, gauche, gawkish, gawky,
     graceless, gross, half-assed, ham-fisted, ham-handed, haphazard,
     harsh, heavy-handed, hit-and-miss, hit-or-miss, hulking, hulky,
     impractical, improper, impure, in bad taste, incommodious,
     inconcinnate, inconcinnous, inconvenient, incorrect, indecorous,
     inelegant, inept, infelicitous, left-hand, left-handed, loutish,
     low, lubberly, lumbering, lumpish, lumpy, maladroit, massive,
     massy, messy, oafish, outlandish, perverse, ponderous, promiscuous,
     rude, slipshod, slipshoddy, sloppy, slovenly, sluttish, splay,
     stiff, tasteless, troublesome, uncourtly, uncouth, undignified,
     uneuphonious, unfelicitous, ungainly, ungraced, ungraceful,
     unhandy, unhappy, unmanageable, unpolished, unrefined, unseemly,
     untidy, unwieldy, vulgar, wooden