Unwieldy

Definition: Unwieldy

Unwieldy

Adjective

1. Difficult to use or handle or manage because of size or weight or shape; "we set about towing the unwieldy structure into the shelter"; "almost dropped the unwieldy parcel".

2. 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".

Date "unwieldy" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1380. (references)

Domain	Definition
Mechanical Engineering	Having long projecting parts and being, for that reason, difficult to handle. Source: European Union. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Synonyms: Unwieldy

Synonyms: clumsy (adj), clunky (adj), gawky (adj), ungainly (adj), unmanageable (adj). (additional references)

Antonym: wieldy (adj). (additional references)

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Difficulty	Awkward, unwieldy, unmanageable; intractable, stubborn; (obstinate); perverse, refractory, plaguy, trying, thorny, rugged; knotted, knotty; invious; pathless, trackless; labyrinthine; (convoluted); intricate, complicated; (tangled); impracticable; (impossible); not feasible; desperate; (hopeless).
Gravity	Adjective: weighty; weighing. Verb: heavy as lead; ponderous, ponderable; lumpish, lumpy, cumbersome, burdensome; cumbrous, unwieldy, massive.
Inexpedience	Clumsy, awkward; cumbrous, cumbersome; lumbering, unwieldy, hulky; unmanageable; (impracticable); impedient; (in the way).
Size	Lubberly, hulky, unwieldy, lumpish, gaunt, spanking, whacking, whopping, walloping, thumping, thundering, hulking; overgrown; puffy; (swollen).
Ugliness	Graceless, inelegant; ungraceful, ungainly, uncouth, stiff; rugged, rough, gross, rude, awkward, clumsy, slouching, rickety; gawky; lumping, lumpish; lumbering; hulky, hulking; unwieldy.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Unwieldy

English words defined with "unwieldy": Bawson, bulkiness ♦ clumsy, clunky, Crare ♦ Fustilugs ♦ gawky ♦ massiveness ♦ ungainly, unmanageable, Unweldy ♦ Wieldless. (references)

Specialty definitions using "unwieldy": hungus. (references)

Etymologies containing "unwieldy": Wieldless, Wieldy. (references)

Subject	Topic	Quote
Economic History	Benin	Legal, regulatory and accounting systems are often unwieldy. (references)
	Guinea	Both foreign and domestic businessmen are encouraged to use the Arbitration Chamber as an alternative to the slow and unwieldy court system. (references)
	Poland	The communist economic system imposed in the late 1940s created large and unwieldy economic structures operated under a tight central command. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

Speaker	Term	Phrase(s)
John Quincy Adams	1825-1829	The debt which had been contracted under the credit sales had become unwieldy, and its extinction was alike advantageous to the purchaser and to the public.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

"Unwieldy" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 100.00% of the time. "Unwieldy" is used about 124 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted)

Parts of Speech	Percent	Usage per 100 Million Words	Rank in English
Adjective (general or positive)	100%	124	28,785

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "unwieldy"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Albanian		kaba (awkward, bulky, clumsy, cubbish, horsy, hulking, lubberly, lumpy, ponderous), i rëndë (arduous, artless, awkward, bad, bulky, burdensome, cubbish, cumbersome, cumbrous, dead, difficile, elephantine, grave, grievous, grinding, hard, heavy, hefty, incondite, knock about, leaden, lumping, massive, oafish, onerous, peremptory, plodding, ponderous, portly, serious, set up, severe, solemn, stertorous, stodgy, tricky, wakeless, weighty), i ngathët (angular, atonic, awkward, clumsy, cubbish, dawdler, dead, dead alive, dull, dullish, footless, gauche, gawky, ham-fisted, heavy, heavy-handed, hulking, inept, laggard, languid, left handed, lubberly, lumbering, lymphatic, maladroit, oafish, pedestrian, poky, quick, shiftless, slack, torpid, ungainly, unhandy, unmoved, unready, wooden). (various references)

Arabic		‏غير عملي (academic, impracticable, impractical, platonic, theoretic, theoretical, unpractical, visionary), ‏صعب المأخذ لثقله, ‏ثقيل (boring, cumbersome, dully, heaver, heavy, hefty, hulking, leaden, lumbering, massive, oppressive, ponderous, stodgy, uninteresting, weighty). (various references)

Bulgarian		труден за употреба, труден за носене, тромав (awkward, bumbling, clumsy, cumbersome, cumbrous, elephantine, flat-footed, gawky, hamfisted, heavy, hulking, lumbering, lumpish, lumpy, maladroit, ponderous, rude, shambling, stodgy, ungainly, ungraceful, unhandy), тежък (cumbrous, dense, difficult, distressing, faint, grave, grievous, grinding, hammering, hard, heavy, hefty, high, hulking, labored, laborious, laboured, leaden, lumping, lumpish, lumpy, massive, massy, muggy, onerous, painful, plodding, ponderous, robust, rugged, sad, severe, shrewd, sledgehammer, slow, smart, smashing, soggy, solemn, sore, stiff, stodgy, taxing, thorny, tight, tough, traumatic, trying, uphill, weighty), огромен (enormous, formidable, gargantuan, giantlike, herculean, howling, huge, mammoth, mighty, monumental, mountainous, oceanic, oversize, planetary, portentous, prodigious, slashing, super, terrible, terrific, thumping, thundering, tremendous, vast, walloping, whacking, whaling, whopping), мъчноподвижен. (various references)

Chinese		笨重 (cumbersome, heavy). (various references)

Czech		tìžkopádný (clumsy, cumbersome, cumbrous, dull, ham-fisted, ham-handed, heavy, heavy going, heavy-handed, inarticulate, lumpish), neskladný (bulky, cumbersome), nepraktický (impractical, inconvenient, unbusinesslike, unpractical), nepoddajný (hard, intractable, obdurate, unruly, unyielding), neohrabaný (awkward, bumbling, clumsy, cumbersome, gauche, ham-fisted, ham-handed, hulking, inept, wooden), nešikovný (awkward, butter-fingered, clumsy, ham-fisted, ham-handed, inept, maladroit, unskillful). (various references)

Danish		uhåndterlig (awkward, awkwardly shaped, awkward-to-handle, cumbersome), voluminøs (bulky, cumbersome). (various references)

Dutch		veel plaats innemend (bulky, cumbersome), lastig (difficult, hard, hardly, inconvenient, nasty, not easily, troublesome, with difficulty), hinderlijk (troublesome). (various references)

Farsi		گنده (Huge, Massive, Whopper), سنگین (Burdensome, Cumbersome, Demure, Earnest, Grave, Heavy, Hefty, Laden, Lumpy, Onerous, Ponderous, Sober, Staid, Stodgy, Weighty), صعب (Difficult), دیرجنب , بدهیکل . (various references)

Finnish		tilaa vievä (bulky, cumbersome), hankalakäyttöinen (awkward, awkwardly shaped, awkward-to-handle, cumbersome). (various references)

French		volumineux, peu maniable (unmanageable), maladroit (unskilful), lourd, encombrant, difficile � manier. (various references)

German		unhandlich (bulky, cumbersome, unhandily, unhandy, unmanageable, unwieldily), sperrig (bulky), schwerfällig (awkward, bovine, clumsy, cumbersome, cumbersomely, dull, heavily, heavy, inarticulate, inelegant, inelegantly, klutzy, labored, laboured, lumbering, lumberingly, phlegmatic, ponderous, ponderously, slow, sluggish, stodgy). (various references)

Greek		ανοικονόμητοσ (ungainly, unmanageable, untractable), ογκώδης (massive), δυσκίνητοσ (cumbersome), δυσμεταχείριστοσ (unmanageable), δυσχείριστος (awkward, awkwardly shaped, awkward-to-handle, cumbersome). (various references)

Hebrew		מ�'ושם (awkward, burly, clown, clumsy, gawky, gross, hulking, uncouth, ungainly), כב�" ומסורבל. (various references)

Hungarian		ormótlan (cumbersome, cumbrous, elephantine, stogy), esetlen (awkward, bearish, clumsy, cubbish, fumbling, gauche, gawky, graceless, ham-fisted, heavy-handed, hulking, inelegant, lubberly, wooden). (various references)

Italian		ingombrante (bulky, cumbersome). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		嵩高 (bulky, high-handed, lofty, Songshan). (various references)

Japanese Katakana		かさ� か (bulky, high-handed). (various references)

Manx		lheibeidjagh (cumbersome, difficult to walk on). (various references)

Pig Latin		ieldyunway

Portuguese		volumoso (big, bulky, chuckle, corpulent, fat, large, lumping, thick, voluminous), pesado (burdensome, cumbersome, cumbrous, drab, elephantine, gloomy, gross, heavy, hefty, hulking, leaden, logy, lumbering, lumping, lumpish, massive, massy, muff, muggy, onerous, oppressive, plodding, ponderous, rigourous, slowpoke, sodden, soggy, sound, stodgy, stringent, tubby, weighty), pesadão (blockish), estorvar (abash, embarrass, entangle, inconvenience, interrupt, lumber, obstruct, shackle), desajeitado (awkward, backhanded, blundering, boorish, bulky, bumbling, chuckle, cloddish, clownish, clumsy, cubbish, floppy, fumbling, gawky, graceless, hawbuck, hobbledehoy, homely, hulking, ill-favored, ill-favoured, ill-mannered, inexpert, left-handed, lout, loutish, low-bred, lubber, lubberly, maladroit, muff, shiftless, uncouth, ungainly, ungraceful, unhandy, unskilful, wooden), de manejo difícil, de deslocação difícil. (various references)

Romanian		stângaci (artless, awkward, awkwardly, bearish, clumsy, gawky, hulking, left handed, left-handed man, loose, lubber, lubberly, lumpish, maladroit, numb hand, splay, uncouth, uncouthly, ungainly, unskilful, unskilfully), masiv (big, bulky, burly, fat, full, heap, heavy, massif, massive, massively, massy, portly, rugged, solid, stout, substantial, voluminous, wholesale), greoi (artless, bearish, dull, elephantine, gawky, heavy, hulking, lubberly, lumpish, massy, ponderous, slow, stodgy, stolid, ungainly, ungraceful, weighty). (various references)

Russian		громоздкий (bulky, cumbersome). (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		nezgrapan (awkward, clumsy, cumbersome, cumbrous, gangling, gauche, hulking, lumbering, lumpish, maladroit, ungainly, unhandy), glomazan (bulky, clumsy, cumbersome, gross, logy, lumbering, lumpish, top heavy). (various references)

Spanish		voluminoso (bulky, heavyset, large, voluminous), pesado (awkward, boring, bulky, burdensome, cumbersome, difficult, dull, ghastly, grave, hard, heavy, heavyweight, hefty, hulking, importunate, irritating, labored, laboured, lacklustre, leaden, logy, nuisance, objectionable, onerous, pestiferous, pestilent, pestilential, ponderous, serious, sesquipedalian, slow, soupy, stodgy, valid, weary, weighty), perfilado que presenta dificultad de manejo (awkward, awkwardly shaped, awkward-to-handle, cumbersome), abultado (bluff, bulging, bulgy, bulky, full, hefty, large, thick). (various references)

Swedish		ohanterlig (cumbersome, cumbrous, unmanageable), klumpig (awkward, cloddish, Cloggy, clownish, clumsy, cumbersome, elephantine, flatfooted, gauche, heavy-handed, hulking, inelegant, inept, left handed, lumpish, uncouth, ungainly, wooden). (various references)

Turkish		kullanışsız (awkward, disabled, impracticable, impractical, incommodious, unadaptable, unhandy, unpractical, unworkable, useless), havaleli (top heavy), hantal (bulky, chubby, clumsy, cumbersome, cumbrous, elephantine, gross, hulking, hulky, loutish, lubber, lumbering, lumpish, plodding, ponderous, rude, sesquipedalian, soggy, stodgy, ungainly, ungraceful, yahoo), ağır (arduous, back breaking, badly, bovine, burdensome, contemptuous, cumbersome, cumbrous, deep, deliberate, dignified, drudging, dull, fabian, foul, grave, grievous, hard, harsh, heavily, heavy, hefty, indigestible, languid, lazy, lumbering, massive, measured, muzzy, not fast, onerous, oppressive, plodding, ponderous, repressive, rich, scorching, scornful, serious, serious minded, seriously, severe, severely, sharp, slack, slashing, slow, slow moving, slowly, sluggish, smashing, stodgy, strenuous, strong, swingeing, toilful, toilsome, unwholesome, weighty). (various references)

Ukrainian		громіздкий (bulky, cumbersome, ponderous), неповороткий (clumsy, gauche, inert, laggard, lagger, lumpish, snail-paced). (various references)

Vietnamese		khó cầm. (various references)

Welsh		anhylaw (evil, unhandy, unskillful), afrosgo (clumsy, ungainly). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Language	Period	Translations
Latin	500 BCE-Modern	inmobile, inmobilem, inmobiles, inmobilis. (various references)
Old English	450-1100	wielde. (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Misspellings
	"Unwieldy" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: nwieldy, unweidly, unweild, unweildy, unwiedldy, unwiedly, unwiedy, unwield, unwieldly. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

# of Phoneme Matches	Pronunciation	Word(s) rhyming with "unwieldy" (pronounced unwē"ldē)
3	-l d ē	Garibaldi, moldy, mouldy, oldie.
Source: compiled by the editor (additional references); see credits.

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "d-e-i-l-n-u-w-y"
	-2 letters: dewily, nudely, widely, wieldy, windle.
	-3 letters: dwine, dynel, indue, lindy, lined, liney, newly, nudie, unled, unwed, widen, wield, wiled, windy, wined, winey, wyled, yield.
	-4 letters: deil, deli, deni, deny, dewy, diel, dine, duel, duly, dune, dyne, idle, idly, idyl, inly, lend, leud, lewd, lied, lien, lieu, line, liny, lude, lune, luny, lwei, nide.
	Words containing the letters "d-e-i-l-n-u-w-y"
	+2 letters: unwieldily.
	+3 letters: unweariedly.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.