gravitationally challenged
- adjective
- /ˌɡrævɪˈteɪʃənəli ˈʧælɪndʒd/
- Offensive
:
[ofensivo] gordo
- After tripping over the curb again, she laughed and called herself gravitationally challenged.
Examples
-
He made light of his frequent spills by claiming to be gravitationally challenged.
-
My friend is gravitationally challenged when it comes to sports.
-
At parties, his friends would tease him about being gravitationally challenged whenever he dropped something.
-
Don't worry, I'm just gravitationally challenged!
-
After tripping over the curb again, she laughed and called herself gravitationally challenged.
-
At parties, his friends would tease him about being gravitationally challenged whenever he dropped something.
-
He made light of his frequent spills by claiming to be gravitationally challenged.
Synonyms
12
2.2
Difficult to hold or carry because of large, awkward shape
4
7.3
Moving or looking awkward and clumsy
1
6.0
To walk with loud, slow steps because you are clumsy
A polite, joking way to say someone is overweight
How Clumsy
- Informal
73
1.2
- Offensive
6
4.8
33
3.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
gravitationally + challenged
The phrase can be parsed compositionally as 'having difficulty with gravity' (gravitationally = relating to gravity; challenged = having difficulty), so a learner who knows both parts can infer a humorous meaning of being clumsy or affected by weight. However, the humor and pragmatic inference required to map 'difficulty with gravity' onto 'clumsy' or 'overweight' is metaphorical rather than literally predictable, so it is not fully transparent.
Etymology
Gravitationally challenged uses a funny image: gravity pulls things down, and someone who is challenged by it seems to drop things or lose their balance. That's why people use it to mean 'clumsy' or to joke about 'difficulty managing their weight'.