unwieldy
adjective
Simple meaning
Difficult to use or handle or manage because of size or weight or shape.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
uhnweeldeeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ənˈwildi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
adjective
Difficult to use or handle or manage because of size or weight or shape
“We set about towing the unwieldy structure into the shelter.”
Badly managed or operated.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Typical Use
- Primarily written
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Difficult to use or handle or manage because of size or weight or shape
Used this way, unwieldy is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“We set about towing the unwieldy structure into the shelter.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use unwieldy
- “We set about towing the unwieldy structure into the shelter.”adjective
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Similar Words, What’s the Difference?
Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.
Difficult to use or handle or manage because of size or weight or shape.
Awkward or inefficient in use or construction, difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape.
Unwieldy because of size or weight.
Perverse; adverse; difficult to handle.
Difficult to move or to manage.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: difficult to use or handle
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.