Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Difficult to carry or manage because of size, shape, weight, or complexity.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Movable or moving with difficulty; unmanageable from size, shape, or weight; lacking pliability: as, an unwieldy hulk; an unwieldy rock.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Not easily wielded or carried; unmanageable; bulky; ponderous.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective obsolete lacking strength; weak
  • adjective obsolete ungraceful in movement
  • adjective difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate because of its size, weight, shape or complexity
  • adjective badly managed or operated

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective difficult to work or manipulate
  • adjective difficult to use or handle or manage because of size or weight or shape
  • adjective lacking grace in movement or posture

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English unweldi, equivalent to un- +‎ wieldy. Cognate with Middle Low German unweldich ("unwieldy").

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Examples

  • (Compare that with the approach of the Federal Communications Commission, which allows only limited searching of filings and comments; or that of the Department of Justice, which puts out data on foreign lobbying in unwieldy PDF format and binders.)

    iGov 2009

  • (Compare that with the approach of the Federal Communications Commission, which allows only limited searching of filings and comments; or that of the Department of Justice, which puts out data on foreign lobbying in unwieldy PDF format and binders.)

    iGov 2009

  • I saw one day a herd of a dozen bullocks and cows running about and frisking in unwieldy sport, like huge rats, even like kittens.

    Walking 1969

  • I saw one day a herd of a dozen bullocks and cows running about and frisking in unwieldy sport, like huge rats, even like kittens.

    Walking 1862

  • The title is unwieldy, but the book—set in present-day Guyana—is a deft synthesis of travelogue and Bildungsroman, by turns antic and introspective.

    Cheeshahteaumauk, Class of '65 (1665) Sam Sacks 2011

  • Fans of the original surely recall the unwieldy and annoying mini-game that was more enjoyable if you had auto-hack tools or just bought them out with Ryanbucks.

    Gaming Target 2010

  • Then came the idea of the ‘post-bureaucratic age’ — in itself the kind of unwieldy phrase you might expect a bureaucrat to use.

    John Rentoul today puts Trevor Kavanagh and myself in the... 2009

  • Then came the idea of the ‘post-bureaucratic age’ — in itself the kind of unwieldy phrase you might expect a bureaucrat to use.

    John Rentoul today puts Trevor Kavanagh and myself in the... 2009

  • Eugenie Allen says Leslie "doesn't do this loaded issue justice, '' because she" uses a battering ram '' to make her points, and so The Feminine Mistake is "unwieldy" and "polarizing."

    Jeremy Gerard: You Say Mystique, I Say Mistake 2008

  • There is something thoroughly modernist about Burtynsky's work, the grand scale, the glorious detail, a kind of unwieldy whole.

    Archive 2006-09-01 Lemon Hound 2006

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