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Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
clumsy
adjective
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
rather
▪ The treatment of the inputs is rather clumsy.
▪ It looked rather clumsy but, when I swung it, it felt quite light.
▪ A wonderful defensive move which prevents ... b5 even though in other respects the rook lands on a rather clumsy square.
▪ Also, during my last year at Oxford, I had noticed that I was getting rather clumsy in my movements.
▪ They are all rather clumsy and fairly large, being distinguished from the parasols of the period by their short stumpy handles.
so
▪ And besides he repels me, so clumsy and big with his cat eyes.
■ NOUN
attempt
▪ Donna turned as Ryker came at her, avoiding his clumsy attempts to grab her.
▪ But of course he had, and my clumsy attempt to avoid detection only served to make the retribution fiercer.
▪ His clumsy attempt to distract her attention was all the warning she needed.
▪ Some swine had bashed the offside rear three-quarter in a very clumsy attempt to park behind me.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
▪ a clumsy camera
▪ a clumsy, shy thirteen-year-old boy
▪ a large man with big clumsy hands
▪ Andrew made a clumsy attempt to kiss her, but she pushed him away.
▪ Dana made a clumsy attempt to catch the ball.
▪ His writing is clumsy and unconvincing.
▪ I was so shy and clumsy when I was seventeen.
▪ I was tall and clumsy as a child, so I avoided sports.
▪ Paula always felt clumsy when she had to serve food to people.
▪ The show is a clumsy blend of news and entertainment.
▪ You clumsy idiot! Look what you've done to my car.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
▪ And I had always felt clumsy because the giving of cash in my own culture is tainted.
▪ But I am pretty clumsy so I had better not take up too many other sports.
▪ Fumbling, fingers clumsy in her panic, she dragged at the plastic retaining clips.
▪ Her big-boned body felt clumsy and she placed the tray on the coffee table with a loud clatter.
▪ It was like watching a clumsy remake of an old movie.
▪ It was only her thick-handed, clumsy way of helping me, advancing an imaginary project that obsesses her.
▪ When he left, the other actors offered him clumsy commiseration, as to some one who had been bereaved.
▪ Writing is downgraded as if it is a clumsy substitute for more efficient means of preserving data and the findings or conclusions.
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Clumsy

Clumsy \Clum"sy\, a. [Compar. Clumsier; superl. Clumsiest.] [OE. clumsed benumbed, fr. clumsen to be benumbed; cf. Icel. klumsa lockjaw, dial. Sw. klummsen benumbed with cold. Cf. 1st Clam, and 1st Clamp.]

  1. Stiff or benumbed, as with cold. [Obs.]

  2. Without skill or grace; wanting dexterity, nimbleness, or readiness; stiff; awkward, as if benumbed; unwieldy; unhandy; hence; ill-made, misshapen, or inappropriate; as, a clumsy person; a clumsy workman; clumsy fingers; a clumsy gesture; a clumsy excuse.

    But thou in clumsy verse, unlicked, unpointed, Hast shamefully defied the Lord's anointed.
    --Dryden.

    Syn: See Awkward.

Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
clumsy

1590s, "acting as if benumbed," alteration of Middle English clumsid "numb with cold" (14c.), past participle of clumsen "to benumb, stiffen or paralyze with cold or fear," from a Scandinavian source akin to Old Norse klumsa "make speechless, palsy; prevent from speaking," intensive of kluma "to make motionless." For insertion of -s-, see flimsy.\n

\nNot in general use until 18c., with senses "manifesting awkwardness; so made as to be unwieldy." Related: Clumsily; clumsiness. Compare Swedish dialectal klummsen "benumbed with cold," Norwegian klumsad (past participle) "speechless, palsied by a spasm or by fear or witchery;" German verklammen "grow stiff or numb with cold." Also compare clumse (n.) "a stupid fellow."

Wiktionary
clumsy

a. 1 awkward, lacking coordination, not graceful, not dextrous 2 Not elegant or well-planned, lacking tact or subtlety 3 awkward or inefficient in use or construction, difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape n. (context informal fairly rare English) A clumsy#Adjective person.

WordNet
clumsy
  1. adj. lacking grace in movement or posture; "a gawky lad with long ungainly legs"; "clumsy fingers"; "what an ungainly creature a giraffe is"; "heaved his unwieldy figure out of his chair" [syn: gawky, clunky, ungainly, unwieldy]

  2. not elegant or graceful in expression; "an awkward prose style"; "a clumsy apology"; "his cumbersome writing style"; "if the rumor is true, can anything be more inept than to repeat it now?" [syn: awkward, cumbersome, inapt, inept, ill-chosen]

  3. difficult to handle or manage especially because of shape; "an awkward bundle to carry"; "a load of bunglesome paraphernalia"; "clumsy wooden shoes"; "the cello, a rather ungainly instrument for a girl" [syn: awkward, bunglesome, ungainly]

  4. showing lack of skill or aptitude; "a bungling workman"; "did a clumsy job"; "his fumbling attempt to put up a shelf" [syn: bungling, fumbling, incompetent]

  5. [also: clumsiest, clumsier]

Wikipedia
Clumsy

Clumsy or clumsiness may refer to:

Clumsy (Samiam album)

Clumsy is the major label debut album from the American band, Samiam. Released in 1994 on Atlantic Records, Clumsy is Samiam's fourth studio album. The band gained critical recognition for the album and landed a slot opening for Bad Religion on the Stranger Than Fiction tour.

Clumsy (Our Lady Peace album)

Clumsy is the second studio album by the Canadian rock band Our Lady Peace, released on January 23, 1997 by Columbia Records. The album is the band's most successful to date, achieving diamond status in Canada (1 million units sold) and strong sales in other countries, including platinum status in the U.S. for another 1 million sales. In 2007, it ranked No. 76 on " The Top 100 Canadian Albums" by Bob Mersereau and No. 33 on The Top 102 New Rock Albums of All Time by 102.1 The Edge (in 2009). The album features five hit singles: " Superman's Dead", " Automatic Flowers", " Clumsy", " 4am" and "Carnival". Each single has its own music video, with the exception of "Carnival".

Clumsy (Our Lady Peace song)

"Clumsy" is the second single released by alternative rock band Our Lady Peace from their second album, Clumsy. It was one of their most successful singles, reaching #1 on Canada's Singles Chart. The song also became very successful in America reaching the Billboard top ten of the modern rock chart peaking at number 5 and remaining in the top ten for 15 weeks straight. It is one of the few tracks on the album not to feature vocalist Raine Maida's falsetto-controlled singing voice, although his trademark paranoid edged-voice is still used. This song is also the lightest on the album. The song was included on the soundtrack to the 1997 movie, I Know What You Did Last Summer.

"Clumsy" has become a staple in Our Lady Peace's live setlist. A live version of the song is featured on their first live compilation Live released in 2003.

Clumsy (Fergie song)

"Clumsy" is a song recorded by American singer and rapper Fergie for her debut studio album, The Dutchess (2006). The song was released as the album's fifth single on September 25, 2007. It was written by Fergie, Bobby Troup and will.i.am, who also produced the track. It was partially recorded in Los Angeles and in the John Lennon Educational Tour Bus. The song's lyrics about being clumsy and in love flow alongside its computerized and bleeping beat taken from "The Bubble Bunch" by Jimmy Spicer, as well as a sample of " The Girl Can't Help It", originally performed by Little Richard.

The song received generally mixed to positive reviews. Critics praised the Little Richard sample and the goofy lyrics on feelings of love. Some critics deemed it to be the album's highlight and pop at its finest, while others considered it flat. "Clumsy" peaked at number five on the US Billboard Hot 100 chart, becoming Fergie's fifth straight top ten hit in the US. The single was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America and has sold over two million downloads in the country. Internationally, the song peaked in the top five in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The song's music video, directed by Marc Webb and Rich Lee, is stylized like a pop-up book and features Swedish model Alex Lundqvist as Fergie's love interest.

Usage examples of "clumsy".

It is clumsy in practice, for the continued adding of small portions of salt solution is laborious and becomes impossible with more than a few milligrams of silver in solution.

Oh, forgive me, for I see the pained expression on your face, so please forgive this over enthusiastic adolescent for his clumsy way of saying what he feels.

Distracted, the sentry made a clumsy parry and Alec sprang under his guard with a savage swing.

He could see the last of the men clambering desperately toward the light, appallingly slow and clumsy in their suits.

And yet I have seen a sprig of arbutus in rough and clumsy buttonholes on weather-faded lapels which, the rest of the twelve-month through, know no other flower.

Every so often, he would take the slowmatch from out the clamp and whirl it around several times in the air before once more securing it back into the serpentine of his clumsy arquebus, for if that scurvy, ill-natured pig of a Seosaidh Scot who had robbed him of his well-earned sleep and set him to this useless, thankless task should come by and find his match unlit, he surely would set about thrashing Raibert.

She felt his hands, oddly clumsy and uncoordinated, on the silk of the bandeau, and then her breasts were once more covered.

A starving man, however, little heeds conventional proprieties, especially on a South-Sea Island, and accordingly Toby and I partook of the dish after our own clumsy fashion, beplastering our faces all over with the glutinous compound, and daubing our hands nearly to the wrist.

The particles of which they were made were born, in the great clumsy bevatrons of that age, some micro-seconds in the future, and their assembly into atoms of anti-matter in the present time of the observers was in fact the moment of their death.

Wild charlock--a clear yellow--pink pimpernels, pink-streaked convolvulus, great white convolvulus, double-yellow toadflax, blue borage, broad rays of blue chicory, tall corn-cockles, azure corn-flowers, the great mallow, almost a bush, purple knapweed--I will make no further catalogue, but there are pages more of flowers, great and small, that grow at the edge of the plough, from the coltsfoot that starts out of the clumsy clod in spring to the white clematis.

There is less to alter than I thought for--the clumsiest botcher in the world could manage it.

Yet thou art a brave man, or else a very simple one, or thou wouldst never have chosen to meet Sir Malud with sword and buckler, for he be skilled with these while thou art clumsy with them.

Either Comp felt that his hands would break chunks from any utensils the bees might make, or Comp was disinclined to produce anything clumsy enough to be sturdy enough.

Gorony was clumsy, and the wine cruet slipped from his shaking fingers and shattered on the marble floor before he or anyone else could prevent it.

His clumsy earnesty in the garden had lent her fleeting hope that he might be different than any other insufferable cad.