Synonyms for unwieldy
- adjective
Most common
Synonyms by meaning
Adjective
1. Cumbersome
cumbersome, clumsy, awkward, ungainly, bulky, clunky, ponderous, heavy, inconvenient, lumbering, gawky, cumbrous formal, incommodious, ungraceful informal, unhandy
2. Unmanageable — difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate because of its size, weight, shape or complexity
unmanageable, unwieldsome dated
Other
Definitions
- adj. 1
Difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate because of its size, weight, shape or complexity.
- adj. 2
Badly managed or operated.
Related words
- Word family
- unwieldily unwieldiness
Example sentences
- awkward At first the trainees were awkward in his company.
- clumsy Her movements were awkward and her gesture clumsy.
- cumbersome Why did we get a washbasin? It's so cumbersome!
- ungainly Very tall people can often be ungainly.
- impractical We all consider that your idea is impractical.
Popularity over time
| Word | 1850 → 2019 | Trend |
|---|---|---|
| unwieldy | steady | |
| awkward | rising | |
| clumsy | rising | |
| cumbersome | steady | |
| ungainly | rising | |
| impractical | falling |
Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.
By length
- 5 letters
- heavy2, bulky2, gawky2
- 6 letters
- clumsy2, clunky2
- 7 letters
- awkward2, unhandy
- 8 letters
- ungainly3, cumbrous
- 9 letters
- lumbering3, ponderous3
- 10 letters
- cumbersome3, ungraceful
- 11 letters
- impractical4, unwieldsome
- 12 letters
- inconvenient4, unmanageable5, incommodious
The small number after each word is its number of syllables (heavy2 = 2 syllables).