cumbrous
/ˈkʌmbrəs
/adjective
Literary term for cumbersome.He replied that the proxy bill was not unconstitutional, though its mode of operation was ‘inconvenient, cumbrous and liable to fraud and abuse.’...
- It was anti-futuristic, so cumbrous and mechanical that even the acronym seemed dated.
- It was his role to give the villains their orders for the night, haggle over the prices and keep a candle burning in the dissecting room waiting for the cumbrous sacks to arrive.
Derivatives
cumbrously
- He moves softly and cumbrously, not unlike a bear who has been taught to walk upright.
- Slowly and cumbrously it made its way along the line until it reached the end of the section at Attack Creek.
- So one kind of knew what to expect from this cumbrously titled opus.
cumbrousness
- The higher self craves freedom from the cumbrousness, the limitations, the pains and disabilities of the body.
- Over time, its descendants became ever more adept at swimming and paid for their aquatic prowess with increasing cumbrousness on land.
- In them the movement is, as a rule, only swift when compared with the normal pace of armies, and the cumbrousness and elaboration of the military machine lessen the feeling of personal adventure.
Origin
Late Middle English (in the sense 'difficult to get through'): from cumber + -ous.