Unwieldy
adjective
Hard to handle or manage, especially because of size or weight.
The large box was unwieldy and difficult to carry upstairs.
Often appears as...
- unwieldy object
- unwieldy system
adjective
Difficult to use, control, or deal with because of being complex or unmanageable.
The company's unwieldy management structure exacerbated the crisis.
Often appears as...
- unwieldy bureaucracy
- unwieldy logistics
adjective
Hard to handle or manage, especially because of size or weight.
The large box was unwieldy and difficult to carry upstairs.
Often appears as...
- unwieldy object
- unwieldy system
adjective
Difficult to use, control, or deal with because of being complex or unmanageable.
The company's unwieldy management structure exacerbated the crisis.
Often appears as...
- unwieldy bureaucracy
- unwieldy logistics
Definition 1 of 2
Pro Tip 1/3Visual Imagery
Picture 'unwieldy' items as large or awkward to help remember when to use it.
The unwieldy sculpture took up too much space.
Pro Tip 2/3Physical Effort
Use 'unwieldy' when something requires a lot of effort to move or handle.
He struggled with the unwieldy ladder.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Just Size
'Unwieldy' also applies to items hard to move because of shape, not just size.
The unwieldy keychain was too bulky for pockets.
Pro Tip 1/3Visual Imagery
Picture 'unwieldy' items as large or awkward to help remember when to use it.
The unwieldy sculpture took up too much space.
Pro Tip 2/3Physical Effort
Use 'unwieldy' when something requires a lot of effort to move or handle.
He struggled with the unwieldy ladder.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Just Size
'Unwieldy' also applies to items hard to move because of shape, not just size.
The unwieldy keychain was too bulky for pockets.
Pro Tip 1/3Visual Imagery
Picture 'unwieldy' items as large or awkward to help remember when to use it.
The unwieldy sculpture took up too much space.
Pro Tip 2/3Physical Effort
Use 'unwieldy' when something requires a lot of effort to move or handle.
He struggled with the unwieldy ladder.
Pro Tip 3/3Not Just Size
'Unwieldy' also applies to items hard to move because of shape, not just size.
The unwieldy keychain was too bulky for pockets.
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Video examples
How to Build a Teepee PIPE...
takes all hands to hoist to the unwieldy canvas up to the top of the teepee get our stick put in handled right in there and push that all the way up to the top okay sinks heavy they work the canvas up the poles like a sail is raised on the mast of a boat push that to the top okay yeah
Video examples
Why a sausage can do...
to help British air traffic controllers efficiently update flight plans. However, the technology was too unwieldy and expensive for widespread use. Over the following decades, engineers further developed this technology and experimented with alternative kinds of touchscreens.
Video examples
The global goals we've...
we mustn't forget the whole package. The goals are an unwieldy set of indicators, goals and targets, but they also include the challenges our world faces. The fact that the SDGs are focusing attention on the fact that we face a crisis in personal rights and inclusiveness
Video examples
How to Build a Teepee PIPE...
takes all hands to hoist to the unwieldy canvas up to the top of the teepee get our stick put in handled right in there and push that all the way up to the top okay sinks heavy they work the canvas up the poles like a sail is raised on the mast of a boat push that to the top okay yeah
Video examples
Why a sausage can do...
to help British air traffic controllers efficiently update flight plans. However, the technology was too unwieldy and expensive for widespread use. Over the following decades, engineers further developed this technology and experimented with alternative kinds of touchscreens.
Video examples
The global goals we've...
we mustn't forget the whole package. The goals are an unwieldy set of indicators, goals and targets, but they also include the challenges our world faces. The fact that the SDGs are focusing attention on the fact that we face a crisis in personal rights and inclusiveness
Example 1 of 3
Quote examples
Miranda Hart
English Actress
If taking one-self seriously as a woman means committing to a life of grooming, pumicing, pruning and polishing one's exterior for the benefit of onlookers, then I may as well leave my unwieldy rucksack to the top of a bleak Scottish hill and make my home there under a stone, where I'll fashion shoes out of mud and clothes out of leaves.
Quote examples
Virginia Postrel
American Writer
Cable companies aren't bad because they're parts of unwieldy media conglomerates. They're bad because they're monopolies (even where they are no longer legally exclusive) and because the government policies that made them monopolies rewarded lobbying over customer service.
Quote examples
Mick Ebeling
American Producer
The reality, I believe, is that all change starts small. The big picture is just too unwieldy, too incomprehensible and seemingly immovable. But give us something individual, quantifiable and personalize-able and, suddenly, our perspective shifts to the one.
Quote examples
P. J. O'Rourke
American Comedian
Fiscal conservatism is just an easy way to express something that is a bit more difficult, which is that the size and scope of government, and really the size and scope of politics in our lives, has grown uncomfortable, unwieldy, intrusive and inefficient.
Quote examples
Adriana Trigiani
American Novelist
No one worries about you like your mother, and when she is gone, the world seems unsafe, things that happen unwieldy. You cannot turn to her anymore, and it changes your life forever.
Quote examples
Martin Seligman
American Psychologist
The word 'happiness' always bothered me, partly because it was scientifically unwieldy and meant a lot of different things to different people, and also because it's subjective.
Quote examples
Mark Steyn
Canadian Writer
The minute health care becomes a huge, unwieldy, expensive government bureaucracy it's a permanent feature of life and there's nothing anyone can do about it.
Quote examples
Stephen Kinzer
American Author
During the Cold War, the non-aligned movement tried to become a 'third force' in world politics, but failed because it was too large and unwieldy.
Quote examples
Henry David Thoreau
American Author
Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed by them.
Quote examples
Alan Ball
American Director
The ego is kind of a big, unwieldy thing. It's not so easily tamed or subdued.
Quote examples
Miranda Hart
English Actress
If taking one-self seriously as a woman means committing to a life of grooming, pumicing, pruning and polishing one's exterior for the benefit of onlookers, then I may as well leave my unwieldy rucksack to the top of a bleak Scottish hill and make my home there under a stone, where I'll fashion shoes out of mud and clothes out of leaves.
Quote examples
Virginia Postrel
American Writer
Cable companies aren't bad because they're parts of unwieldy media conglomerates. They're bad because they're monopolies (even where they are no longer legally exclusive) and because the government policies that made them monopolies rewarded lobbying over customer service.
Quote examples
Mick Ebeling
American Producer
The reality, I believe, is that all change starts small. The big picture is just too unwieldy, too incomprehensible and seemingly immovable. But give us something individual, quantifiable and personalize-able and, suddenly, our perspective shifts to the one.
Quote examples
P. J. O'Rourke
American Comedian
Fiscal conservatism is just an easy way to express something that is a bit more difficult, which is that the size and scope of government, and really the size and scope of politics in our lives, has grown uncomfortable, unwieldy, intrusive and inefficient.
Quote examples
Adriana Trigiani
American Novelist
No one worries about you like your mother, and when she is gone, the world seems unsafe, things that happen unwieldy. You cannot turn to her anymore, and it changes your life forever.
Quote examples
Martin Seligman
American Psychologist
The word 'happiness' always bothered me, partly because it was scientifically unwieldy and meant a lot of different things to different people, and also because it's subjective.
Quote examples
Mark Steyn
Canadian Writer
The minute health care becomes a huge, unwieldy, expensive government bureaucracy it's a permanent feature of life and there's nothing anyone can do about it.
Quote examples
Stephen Kinzer
American Author
During the Cold War, the non-aligned movement tried to become a 'third force' in world politics, but failed because it was too large and unwieldy.
Quote examples
Henry David Thoreau
American Author
Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed by them.
Quote examples
Alan Ball
American Director
The ego is kind of a big, unwieldy thing. It's not so easily tamed or subdued.
Example 1 of 10
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