clumsy

• POS: Adjective
• HYPHEN: clum=sy

CIDE DICTIONARY

clumsy, a. [OE. clumsed benumbed, fr. clumsen to be benumbed; cf. Icel. klumsa lockjaw, dial. Sw. klummsen benumbed with cold. Cf. 1st Clam, and 1st Clamp.].

•  Stiff or benumbed, as with cold.  [1913 Webster]
•  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."

Syn. -- See Awkward.

OXFORD DICTIONARY

clumsy, adj. (clumsier, clumsiest)
1 awkward in movement or shape; ungainly.
2 difficult to handle or use.
3 tactless.

Derivative

clumsily adv. clumsiness n.

Etymology

obs. clumse be numb with cold (prob. f. Scand.)

THESAURUS

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

ROGET THESAURUS

clumsy

Inexpedience

N inexpedience, inexpediency, undesirableness, undesirability, discommodity, impropriety, unfitness, inutility, disadvantage, inexpedient, undesirable, unadvisable, inadvisable, objectionable, inapt, ineligible, inadmissible, inconvenient, incommodious, discommodious, disadvantageous, inappropriate, unfit, ill-contrived, ill-advised, unsatisfactory, unprofitable, unsubservient, inopportune, out of place, in the wrong place, improper, unseemly, clumsy, awkward, cumbrous, cumbersome, lumbering, unwieldy, hulky, unmanageable, impedient, unnecessary, it will never do.

Unskillfulness

N unskillfulness, want of skill, incompetence, incompentency, inability, infelicity, indexterity, inexperience, disqualification, unproficiency, quackery, folly, stupidity indiscretion, thoughtlessness, sabotage, mismanagement, misconduct, impolicy, maladministration, misrule, misgovernment, misapplication, misdirection, misfeasance, petticoat government, absence of rule, rule of thumb, bungling, failure, screw loose: too many cooks, blunder, etourderie gaucherie, act of folly, balourdise, botch, botchery, bad job, sad work, sprat sent out to catch a whale, much ado about nothing, wild- goose chase, bungler, fool, unskillful, inexpert, bungling, awkward, clumsy, unhandy, lubberly, gauche, maladroit, left-handed, heavy-handed, slovenly, slatternly, gawky, adrift, at fault, inapt, unapt, inhabile, untractable, unteachable, giddy, inconsiderate, stupid inactive, incompetent, unqualified, disqualified, ill-qualified, unfit, quackish, raw, green, inexperienced, rusty, out of practice, unaccustomed, unused, untrained &c, uninitiated, unconversant, shiftless, unstatesmanlike, unadvised, ill-advised, misadvised, ill-devised, ill-imagined, ill-judged, ill-contrived, ill-conducted, unguided, misguided, misconducted, foolish, wild, infelicitous, penny wise and pound foolish, one's fingers being all thumbs, the right hand forgets its cunning, il se noyerait dans une goutte d'eau, incidit in Scyllam qui vult vitare Charybdim, out of the frying pan into the fire, non omnia possumus omnes.

Ugliness

N ugliness, deformity, inelegance, acomia, disfigurement, want of symmetry, inconcinnity, distortion, squalor, forbidding countenance, vinegar aspect, hanging look, wry face, spretae injuria formae, eyesore, object, witch, hag, figure, sight, fright, monster, dog, woofer, pig, octopus, specter, scarecrow, harridan, satyr, toad, monkey, baboon, Caliban, Aesop, monstrum horrendum informe ingens cui lumen adempt, ugly, ugly as sin, ugly as a toad, ugly as a scarecrow, ugly as a dead monkey, plain, bald (unadorned), homely, ordinary, unornamental, inartistic, unsightly, unseemly, uncomely, unlovely, unshapely, sightless, seemless, not fit to be seen, unbeauteous, unbeautiful, beautiless, semibeautiful, shapeless, misshapen, misproportioned, monstrous, gaunt, dumpy, curtailed of its fair proportions, ill-made, ill- shaped, ill-proportioned, crooked, hard featured, hard visaged, ill-favored, hard-favored, evil-favored, ill-looking, unprepossessing, unattractive, uninviting, unpleasing, graceless, inelegant, ungraceful, ungainly, uncouth, stiff, rugged, rough, gross, rude, awkward, clumsy, slouching, rickety, gawky, lumping, lumpish, lumbering, hulky, hulking, unwieldy, squalid, haggard, grim, grim faced, grim visaged, grisly, ghastly, ghost like, death like, cadaverous, grewsome, gruesome, frightful, hideous, odious, uncanny, forbidding, repellant, repulsive, repugnant, grotesque, bizarre, grody, grody to the max, horrid, horrible, shocking, foul, dingy, gaudy, disfigured, discolored.