1
as in clumsy
difficult to use or operate especially because of size, weight, or design
getting the ungainly couch up the stairs was a real chore
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in awkward
having or showing an inability to move in a graceful manner
the tree cutter was crushing any unlucky petunias that lay in the path of his ungainly tread
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
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Recent Examples of ungainly
And yet, within quarter of a century, this ungainly apparatus had established itself as a vital pillar of global governance.
—
Time, 26 Feb. 2026
Melbourne, Australia — An ungainly barrel of a shark cruising languidly over a barren seabed far too deep for the sun's rays to illuminate was an unexpected sight.
—CBS News, 18 Feb. 2026
The movie begins in 1989, when Martin was just out of her teens and fighting in Toughwoman contests, and spans 22 years, providing all sorts of opportunities for ungainly period hairstyles, from a ragged pageboy to a curly mullet to a frizzy shag.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 7 Nov. 2025
All loads easier than wrangling an ungainly bird half the table doesn’t really much care for anyway (what?
—Shilpa Uskokovic, Bon Appetit Magazine, 31 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ungainly
Time, 26 Feb. 2026
Melbourne, Australia — An ungainly barrel of a shark cruising languidly over a barren seabed far too deep for the sun's rays to illuminate was an unexpected sight.
—CBS News, 18 Feb. 2026
The movie begins in 1989, when Martin was just out of her teens and fighting in Toughwoman contests, and spans 22 years, providing all sorts of opportunities for ungainly period hairstyles, from a ragged pageboy to a curly mullet to a frizzy shag.
—Alison Willmore, Vulture, 7 Nov. 2025
All loads easier than wrangling an ungainly bird half the table doesn’t really much care for anyway (what?
—Shilpa Uskokovic, Bon Appetit Magazine, 31 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for ungainly
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ungainly
Adjective
-
Perugino’s compositions tend to be clumsy in their parallels—two people on the left, two people on the right—and the skin typically looks like candle wax.—
Zachary Fine,
New Yorker,
20 Apr. 2026
-
The collapse of the talks wasn’t the fault of bad faith or clumsy diplomacy.—
Farah N. Jan,
The Conversation,
14 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Rio de Janeiro mayor Eduardo Cavaliere made headlines earlier this year by banning Chappell Roan from ever performing at the concert after the singer had an awkward encounter with the stepdaughter of Brazilian soccer player Jorginho.—
Jordan Moreau,
Variety,
27 Apr. 2026
-
The White House Correspondents’ Association dinner is one of Washington’s enduring, if somewhat awkward, rituals.—
Chicago Tribune,
Chicago Tribune,
27 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The poor equipment manager was struggling with the unwieldy block.—
Mark Lazerus,
New York Times,
26 Apr. 2026
-
The high court did not opine on the process of refunds, and government officials at first suggested the process could prove unwieldy.—
Alina Selyukh,
NPR,
19 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
Played in full, Silent Way induces a pervasive nausea, reveling in gawky soundscapes that seem barely able to contain their outsized, clashing ideas.—
Maxie Younger,
Pitchfork,
27 Mar. 2026
-
Homeroom placement was designated by test scores, and Smith rightly recalled that her homeroom class with Tupac was filled by twenty-eight Black students — and a gawky white kid named William Yates.—
Jeff Pearlman,
Rolling Stone,
17 Oct. 2025
Adjective
-
But the point stands that the means to make a movie—once cumbersome and expensive—now fits in the palm of your hand.—
Dennis Lim,
The New York Review of Books,
25 Apr. 2026
-
Unfortunately, clear aquarium-style cages can be heavy and cumbersome to move.—
BestReviews,
Chicago Tribune,
20 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The volunteer, named Jacki and played with warm restraint by Tessa Thompson, has been slowly developing a friendship with Yarris, a mercurial but undeniably charismatic character played by Adrien Brody, your go-to actor for any slight man with a loping, unsteady energy.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
16 Apr. 2026
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Change feels unsteady, and the reader will want to get to stable ground.—
JD Barker,
Rolling Stone,
16 Apr. 2026
Adjective
-
The country had lost a generation of promising students and researchers during World War I; its universities were teaching math in uncoordinated, fragmented ways, using materials that were woefully out of date.—
Leila Sloman,
Quanta Magazine,
25 Mar. 2026
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For a quiet, uncoordinated kid, there was nothing cooler than a hero whose superpower was his imagination.—
James Hibberd,
HollywoodReporter,
17 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Ungainly.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ungainly. Accessed 1 May. 2026.
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