unwieldy

Advancedzipf 2.81

Pronunciation

/ʌnˈwiːldi/(un-WEEL-dee)

Part of speech

adjectiveneutral

Chinese

笨重的;难以操作的;庞大复杂的

Definition

Difficult to move, manage, or handle because of size, shape, or complexity.

Word family

  • unwieldiness/ʌnˈwiːldɪnəs/(n)笨重

Collocations

  • unwieldy system
  • unwieldy bureaucracy
  • unwieldy device
  • unwieldy process

Examples

  1. 1.The old database system had become unwieldy and slow. (difficult to manage)
  2. 2.She struggled to carry the unwieldy package up the stairs. (bulky, hard to handle)

Synonyms

  • cumbersome/ˈkʌmbəsəm/heavy and hard to move
  • bulky/ˈbʌlki/large and awkward
  • clunky/ˈklʌŋki/heavy and inefficient, informal

Etymology

un- (not) + wieldy (easy to handle) — from "wield" (to handle) — can't be wielded easily