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unwieldy

[uhn-weel-dee]

adjective, -wield·i·er, -wield·i·est.

not wieldy; wielded with difficulty; not readily handled or managed in use or action, as from size, shape, or weight; awkward; ungainly.

Also, un·wield·ly.

Origin:
1350–1400; Middle English unweldy. See un-¹, wieldy

Related forms

un·wield·i·ly, adverb

un·wield·i·ness, noun

Synonyms
bulky, unmanageable, clumsy.

Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Link To unwieldy

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Unwieldy is always a great word to know.

So is quincunx. Does it mean:

an arrangement of five objects, as trees, in a square or rectangle, one at each corner and one in the middle.

a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal.

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Example Sentences

Now the agency has decided that things were a bit unwieldy and it is reorganizing the seven departments into three divisions.

Scholars who are familiar with such citations agree that the current formats remain unwieldy.

German spelling does need overhauling: over the decades, it has grown more unwieldy.

EXPAND

Now the agency has decided that things were a bit unwieldy and it is reorganizing the seven departments into three divisions.

Scholars who are familiar with such citations agree that the current formats remain unwieldy.

German spelling does need overhauling: over the decades, it has grown more unwieldy.

Bar soap is a convenient option for the bathroom, but when a bar gets to be too small, it becomes unwieldy and inconvenient.

The trouble with that process is that it could prove unwieldy.

But as a whole, the unit felt unwieldy and difficult to maneuver.

Mine seems particularly egregious, although it has the same unwieldy construction as the rest of its species.

Others suggest that the aim is to ensure the election of a weak, unwieldy parliament.

We only used rear ones, and my mountain bike felt unwieldy and heavy to me.

And if unwed females become too unwieldy they're more likely to get knocked off during a good grooming.

That's a market the unwieldy throw-bots have cornered.

Though scratches made the fields less unwieldy than had.

Existing terahertz sources are, however, either too unwieldy or too weak to suit all of these uses.

Those early handguns were heavy, inaccurate, and unwieldy by today's standards.

The grid took more than a century to grow into the unwieldy beast it is now.

In past years, a comparably unwieldy novel might never have been adapted at all.

Their skinny tyres and pudginess can make them woefully unwieldy in the wet.

ScienceBlogs came with prestige and a paycheck but the sheer size of the network made it unwieldy.

Terrain, on the other hand, can make the phalanx utterly unwieldy.

As the protest's numbers swelled, this devotion to ensuring that everyone was heard resulted in unwieldy meetings lasting hours.

The second was whether, in managing an unwieldy and disparate coalition, it could get much done.

But the unwieldy size of the database raises doubts.

So deeply in debt are the hardest-hit of this unwieldy bunch that only the central government has the cash to prop them up.

First, enlist the aid of a partner if the ladder is unwieldy or will require guarding while you are aloft.

Worse, nowadays, new oil tends to be found in relatively inaccessible spots or in more unwieldy forms.

The regulatory system for banks, securities, commodities and insurance is unwieldy and in need of modernization.

If an election is held, the outcome could be an unwieldy coalition government.

Record keeping and sharing is seamless and electronic, rather than unwieldy and paper-based.

Citigroup may be both too big to fail and too unwieldy for the government to takeover.

Voters living abroad face an unwieldy system of absentee balloting that could prevent their votes from being counted.

In some cases, those surveys turned out to be too unwieldy for programs to answer accurately.

For instance, early sketches of the bike above included a lot more unwieldy weaponry on the front of the bike.

Result: home movies have come a startlingly long way from the days of clunky cameras and unwieldy projection reels and.

His unwieldy eight-party coalition slowed decision-making.

Second, the best way to combat an unwieldy central government is to allow states the ultimate right:.

But the thing is a little unwieldy for battlefield use.

The equipment was simply too unwieldy for anyone to operate while under fire.

He showed multiple slides of houses and buildings constructed with unwieldy slabs of concrete and cinder blocks.

The fronds were particularly perky and too unwieldy for the refrigerator.

But it does make for hopelessly unwieldy governing coalitions.

The breakup will be the second in two years for the company, once an unwieldy conglomerate.

But at some point a conglomerate that is already hard to manage risks becoming unwieldy.

The goal here is two-fold: first, to streamline the unwieldy wiring diagrams that have evolved over time.

Maliki can now manage the unwieldy alliance is a big.

The region's unwieldy conglomerates could do more to help themselves achieve global scale by concentrating on fewer businesses.

Result: home movies have come a startlingly long way from the days of clunky cameras and unwieldy projection reels and screens.

In addition, he says, energy directives are unwieldy and governments have been unwilling to work together.

The authors, too, may bemoan the festival's increasingly unwieldy size.

Instead, she said that the program had become unwieldy and that it was not up to the academic standards of a university.

Then you've got this completely unwieldy bureaucracy, you've got throw-back laws from bygone eras.

The same unwieldy mix of players had sought to ensure that the ongoing costs of the environmentally destructive industry.

My unwieldy locks had been tamed to the extent that they no longer required the discipline of a tightly wound bun.

COLLAPSE

Collins

World English Dictionary

unwieldy or unwieldly (ʌnˈwiːldɪ)

—*adj*
1.	too heavy, large, or awkwardly shaped to be easily handled
2.	ungainly; clumsy

unwieldly or unwieldly

—*adj*

un'wieldily or unwieldly

—*adv*

un'wieldlily or unwieldly

—*adv*

un'wieldiness or unwieldly

—n

un'wieldliness or unwieldly

—n

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

unwieldy

late 14c., "lacking strength," from un- (1) "not" + O.E. wielde "active, vigorous," from P.Gmc. *walth- "have power" (see wield). Meaning "moving ungracefully" is recorded from 1530; in ref. to weapons, "difficult to handle, awkward by virtue of size or shape" it is attested from 1547.

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"In a cabinet of natural history, we become sensible of a certain occult recognition and sympathy in regard to the most unwieldy and eccentric forms of beast, fish, and insect."

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unwieldy

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