Clunky
adjective
Something that is heavy and awkward to use, handle, or operate.
The first generation of mobile phones were clunky and hard to carry around
Often appears as...
- clunky shoes
- clunky machinery
adjective
Something that is poorly or clumsily made or done.
He gave a clunky performance in his first stage act
Often appears as...
- clunky writing
- clunky handling
adjective
Something that is heavy and awkward to use, handle, or operate.
The first generation of mobile phones were clunky and hard to carry around
Often appears as...
- clunky shoes
- clunky machinery
adjective
Something that is poorly or clumsily made or done.
He gave a clunky performance in his first stage act
Often appears as...
- clunky writing
- clunky handling
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Objects
Use 'clunky' to describe large, heavy items that are hard to manage or use.
I decided to replace my clunky old desktop computer with a sleek laptop.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
'Clunky' often carries a slightly negative tone, implying inconvenience or discomfort.
The clunky interface of the app made it difficult to navigate.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Modern
'Clunky' can suggest something is outdated or not in line with current design and technology.
Despite being full of features, the new gadget felt clunky compared to its competitors.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Objects
Use 'clunky' to describe large, heavy items that are hard to manage or use.
I decided to replace my clunky old desktop computer with a sleek laptop.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
'Clunky' often carries a slightly negative tone, implying inconvenience or discomfort.
The clunky interface of the app made it difficult to navigate.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Modern
'Clunky' can suggest something is outdated or not in line with current design and technology.
Despite being full of features, the new gadget felt clunky compared to its competitors.
Pro Tip 1/3Physical Objects
Use 'clunky' to describe large, heavy items that are hard to manage or use.
I decided to replace my clunky old desktop computer with a sleek laptop.
Pro Tip 2/3Negative Connotation
'Clunky' often carries a slightly negative tone, implying inconvenience or discomfort.
The clunky interface of the app made it difficult to navigate.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Modern
'Clunky' can suggest something is outdated or not in line with current design and technology.
Despite being full of features, the new gadget felt clunky compared to its competitors.
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Video examples
Why Can't We See...
that life is ultimately just complex patterns of information interacting with each other in a beautiful way, and that can happen more efficiently at a small scale. So just as on Earth, clunky stereo systems have shrunk to beautiful, tiny iPods, maybe intelligent life itself, in order to reduce its footprint on the environment, has turned itself microscopic,
Video examples
Questions No One Knows...
Or, maybe we're looking at the wrong scale. Perhaps intelligent civilizations come to realize that life is ultimately just complex patterns of information interacting with each other in a beautiful way, and that that can happen more efficiently at a small scale. So, just as on Earth, clunky stereo systems have shrunk
Video examples
Paul Bennett: Design is...
than the form of it. The way it's produced, it has to be produced with indigenous manufacturing methods and indigenous materials. So it had to be looked at completely from the point of view of the user. We had to completely transfer ourselves over to their world. So what seems like a very clunky product
Video examples
Todd Humphreys: How to...
their measurements back over a network. Well, these objections were perfectly reasonable a few years ago, but things have changed. There's been a strong trend toward miniaturization, better sensitivity, so much so that, a few years ago, a GPS tracking device looked like this clunky box
Video examples
How we can teach...
This way, when you have an interaction with a chatbot on your phone or a voice-based system in the car, it sounds a little more human and less cold and disjointed. So I created a piece of art that tries to highlight the robotic, clunky interaction to help us understand, as designers,
Video examples
TEDWomen 2015 in review...
actually a there was a second theme that they had going that they scrapped the original theme was actually textures eating food off of sticks and oddly shaped small containers plus there's a robotic petting zoo they scrapped that title is a little clunky uh but you know
Video examples
The Secret Culture of...
he's holding his breath but he can't get deep enough to get a good shot so he resurfaces and grabs his air tanks but there's a problem scuba gear is noisy whales are very uh acoustic animals they are tuned in to sound so if there's this big clunky thing down
Video examples
Where's Google going...
Yeah, so Deep Mind is a company we just acquired recently. It's in the U.K. First, let me tell you the way we got there, which was looking at search and really understanding, trying to understand everything, and also make the computers not clunky
Video examples
The future of money PIPE...
works pretty well, and the whole world economy is built on it. If you were the first person on your block to get a car with an internal combustion engine, your neighbors would probably think you were "Why would you want this large, clunky machine
Video examples
Building a dinosaur from...
Birds are living dinosaurs. We actually classify them as dinosaurs. We now call them non-avian dinosaurs and avian dinosaurs. So the non-avian dinosaurs are the big clunky ones that went extinct.
Video examples
Why Can't We See...
that life is ultimately just complex patterns of information interacting with each other in a beautiful way, and that can happen more efficiently at a small scale. So just as on Earth, clunky stereo systems have shrunk to beautiful, tiny iPods, maybe intelligent life itself, in order to reduce its footprint on the environment, has turned itself microscopic,
Video examples
Questions No One Knows...
Or, maybe we're looking at the wrong scale. Perhaps intelligent civilizations come to realize that life is ultimately just complex patterns of information interacting with each other in a beautiful way, and that that can happen more efficiently at a small scale. So, just as on Earth, clunky stereo systems have shrunk
Video examples
Paul Bennett: Design is...
than the form of it. The way it's produced, it has to be produced with indigenous manufacturing methods and indigenous materials. So it had to be looked at completely from the point of view of the user. We had to completely transfer ourselves over to their world. So what seems like a very clunky product
Video examples
Todd Humphreys: How to...
their measurements back over a network. Well, these objections were perfectly reasonable a few years ago, but things have changed. There's been a strong trend toward miniaturization, better sensitivity, so much so that, a few years ago, a GPS tracking device looked like this clunky box
Video examples
How we can teach...
This way, when you have an interaction with a chatbot on your phone or a voice-based system in the car, it sounds a little more human and less cold and disjointed. So I created a piece of art that tries to highlight the robotic, clunky interaction to help us understand, as designers,
Video examples
TEDWomen 2015 in review...
actually a there was a second theme that they had going that they scrapped the original theme was actually textures eating food off of sticks and oddly shaped small containers plus there's a robotic petting zoo they scrapped that title is a little clunky uh but you know
Video examples
The Secret Culture of...
he's holding his breath but he can't get deep enough to get a good shot so he resurfaces and grabs his air tanks but there's a problem scuba gear is noisy whales are very uh acoustic animals they are tuned in to sound so if there's this big clunky thing down
Video examples
Where's Google going...
Yeah, so Deep Mind is a company we just acquired recently. It's in the U.K. First, let me tell you the way we got there, which was looking at search and really understanding, trying to understand everything, and also make the computers not clunky
Video examples
The future of money PIPE...
works pretty well, and the whole world economy is built on it. If you were the first person on your block to get a car with an internal combustion engine, your neighbors would probably think you were "Why would you want this large, clunky machine
Video examples
Building a dinosaur from...
Birds are living dinosaurs. We actually classify them as dinosaurs. We now call them non-avian dinosaurs and avian dinosaurs. So the non-avian dinosaurs are the big clunky ones that went extinct.
Example 1 of 10
Quote examples
Dave Morris
British Author
Now, I admire The Sims as a game, but from a story viewpoint, there are two glaring problems. First, your relationship with those characters is like they're bugs in a jar. There's no empathy. And secondly, you've got this clunky, chemistry-set interface between you and them, with bars to show how tired or angry they are. It's all tell not show.
Quote examples
Brad Bird
American Director
I think we kind of changed how people did humans in CG animation after. If you look at films before 'Incredibles,' they tended to be photorealistic in a clunky and ugly way, with pores in their skin and too many eyelashes. It's kind of disturbing. And since, the designs have gotten a lot more playful in a lot of people's films, not just ours.
Quote examples
Sebastian Thrun
German Scientist
Education used to be a slice of life, something you did as a child through college, and then spent the rest of your life working, and then death. Everything is about to change. I believe education will become something that fits seamlessly into life, and we will take big clunky things like degrees and college and fit them into a weekend.
Quote examples
John Battelle
American Businessman
The largest issue with search is that we learned about it when the web was young, when the universe was 'complete' - the entire web was searchable! Now our digital lives are utterly fractured - in apps, in walled gardens like Facebook, across clunky interfaces like those in automobiles or Comcast cable boxes.
Quote examples
Cathy McMorris Rodgers
American Politician
Our goal as Republicans is to ensure gender discrimination ends once and for all, and to also help guarantee those who want to remain in the workforce and continue their careers aren't hindered by clunky, outdated regulatory structures that penalize them for making that choice.
Quote examples
Charlie Brooker
English Critic
Everyone's opened a drawer and been startled by the unexpected discovery of an old mobile phone that now resembles an outsized pantomime prop. To think you used to be impressed by this clunky breezeblock. You were like a caveman gawping at a yo-yo.
Quote examples
Kelly Rohrbach
American Actress
My siblings would tease me and call me big friendly or freaky giant, and later, when I was approached about modeling, they would joke, 'The BFG is gonna be a model? That clunky thing?' They know how to keep me in check all right.
Quote examples
Mona Simpson
American Author
We're all looking for an authentic way to be engaged in the community, engaged in politics, engaged in national discussion - and so, we're clunky. We're all clunky. But it's better than not doing it.
Quote examples
Jack Antonoff
American Musician
I think what probably happens when you put two awkward/clunky people together is that their awkward/clunky world seems like a normal world.
Quote examples
Carice van Houten
Dutch Actress
On my own, I have very bad posture; I'm clunky.
Quote examples
Dave Morris
British Author
Now, I admire The Sims as a game, but from a story viewpoint, there are two glaring problems. First, your relationship with those characters is like they're bugs in a jar. There's no empathy. And secondly, you've got this clunky, chemistry-set interface between you and them, with bars to show how tired or angry they are. It's all tell not show.
Quote examples
Brad Bird
American Director
I think we kind of changed how people did humans in CG animation after. If you look at films before 'Incredibles,' they tended to be photorealistic in a clunky and ugly way, with pores in their skin and too many eyelashes. It's kind of disturbing. And since, the designs have gotten a lot more playful in a lot of people's films, not just ours.
Quote examples
Sebastian Thrun
German Scientist
Education used to be a slice of life, something you did as a child through college, and then spent the rest of your life working, and then death. Everything is about to change. I believe education will become something that fits seamlessly into life, and we will take big clunky things like degrees and college and fit them into a weekend.
Quote examples
John Battelle
American Businessman
The largest issue with search is that we learned about it when the web was young, when the universe was 'complete' - the entire web was searchable! Now our digital lives are utterly fractured - in apps, in walled gardens like Facebook, across clunky interfaces like those in automobiles or Comcast cable boxes.
Quote examples
Cathy McMorris Rodgers
American Politician
Our goal as Republicans is to ensure gender discrimination ends once and for all, and to also help guarantee those who want to remain in the workforce and continue their careers aren't hindered by clunky, outdated regulatory structures that penalize them for making that choice.
Quote examples
Charlie Brooker
English Critic
Everyone's opened a drawer and been startled by the unexpected discovery of an old mobile phone that now resembles an outsized pantomime prop. To think you used to be impressed by this clunky breezeblock. You were like a caveman gawping at a yo-yo.
Quote examples
Kelly Rohrbach
American Actress
My siblings would tease me and call me big friendly or freaky giant, and later, when I was approached about modeling, they would joke, 'The BFG is gonna be a model? That clunky thing?' They know how to keep me in check all right.
Quote examples
Mona Simpson
American Author
We're all looking for an authentic way to be engaged in the community, engaged in politics, engaged in national discussion - and so, we're clunky. We're all clunky. But it's better than not doing it.
Quote examples
Jack Antonoff
American Musician
I think what probably happens when you put two awkward/clunky people together is that their awkward/clunky world seems like a normal world.
Quote examples
Carice van Houten
Dutch Actress
On my own, I have very bad posture; I'm clunky.
Example 1 of 10
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