Ungainly

Quick meaning: Ungainly is an adjective meaning Clumsy; lacking grace.

Meaning

Clumsy; lacking grace.

More Meanings

1. Gangling
2. Difficult to move or to manage; unwieldy.
3. (obsolete) Unsuitable; unprofitable.
4. (rare) An ungainly person or thing.
5. (obsolete) In an ungainly or unbecoming manner; improperly; undeservedly, unduly; unsuitably.

Example Sentences

Photographs of the Fowler Moguls had always given me the impression of an ungainly design: the sight of them more then confirmed it.

His body, though thin, looked oversized and ungainly, his limbs poorly knit together; he appeared to conquer his tendency to awkwardness by making only the smallest, most deliberate of movements.

My lady brought with her from England a most profane instrument, a lute of ungainlie height, at which Master Higginson looketh doubtfully as if it were an instrument of sin, and methinketh Mistresses Mary and Elizabeth Fenwick thinketh it also […]

There is but little tenderness in her manner to Celia, who is played by Miss Ione Bourke with very great simplicity and taste, though she has the disadvantage of being taller and in every way ungainlier than Rosalind, which is just the reverse of Shakespeare's intention.

Word Forms

• ungainlier
• ungainliest
• ungainlie
• ungainlies

Synonyms for ungainly

Depending on context, synonyms include gawky, unwieldy, awkward, clumsy, bunglesome, clunky.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include clunky, clumsy, gawky, bunglesome, unwieldy, unmanageable.

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