cumbrous
- adjective
- /ˈkʌmbrəs/
- Archaic
:
torpe
- Note that Fry identified Western painting with "the cumbrous machinery of merely curious representation," or post-Renaissance naturalism.
Examples
-
They break every trust, spy out the undefended space, catching Mom coming out of the bathroom in her cumbrous robe and turbaned towel, looking bloodless and plucked.
Fiction book (1994) -
She struggled to navigate through the cumbrous furniture in the cramped room.
-
The incapable and cumbrous shame
Blog text (9) -
And then, perhaps, our artists will develop a new conscience, will throw over all the cumbrous machinery of merely curious representation, and will seek to portray only the essential elements of things.
Academic text (2013) -
Oiled along by prose that is not cumbrous and at a pace that is brisk, the flow of narrative is smooth; the reader romps through the novel in no time.
Blog text (6) -
The cumbrous package was difficult to lift, requiring two people to carry it.
-
The old computer was cumbrous and slow, making it frustrating to use for everyday tasks.
Synonyms
71
2.5
Hard to move because of its size or shape
22
6.7
Large, heavy, and difficult to carry or use
16
6.7
Hard to move because it is large, heavy, or oddly shaped
Not easy to use or carry
Antonyms
How Cumbersome
Surface Forms
Morphology
Etymology
The word cumbrous comes from the old word cumber, which means 'to weigh down' or 'to block', and is in words like cumbersome and encumber. So something cumbrous is difficult to handle because it slows you down or feels heavy.