Adjacent Words

Ungainly definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

UNGA'INLY, a. Not expert or dextrous; clumsy; awkward; uncouth; as an ungainly strut in walking.
[I believe ungain is not used.]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: 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, clumsy, clunky, ungainly, unwieldy]
2: 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, clumsy, ungainly]

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: obsolete gain direct, from Middle English gayn, geyn, from Old English g?n, from Old Norse gegn, from gegn, preposition, against; akin to Old English g?an- against — more at again Date: 1611 1. a. lacking in smoothness or dexterity ; clumsy <ungainly movements> b. hard to handle ; unwieldy <an ungainly contraption> 2. having an awkward appearance <a large ungainly bird> • ungainliness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. (of a person, animal, or movement) awkward, clumsy. Derivatives: ungainliness n. Etymology: UN-(1) + obs. gainly graceful ult. f. ON gegn straight

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ungainly Un*gain"ly, a. [OE. ungeinliche, adv., fr. ungein inconvenient; un- + Icel. gegn ready, serviceable; adv., against, opposite. See Un- not, and Gain, a., Again.] 1. Not gainly; not expert or dexterous; clumsy; awkward; uncouth; as, an ungainly strut in walking. His ungainly figure and eccentric manners. --Macaulay. 2. Unsuitable; unprofitable. [Obs.] --Hammond.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Ungainly Un*gain"ly, adv. In an ungainly manner.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

If you describe a person, animal, or vehicle as ungainly, you mean that they look awkward or clumsy, often because they are big. The dog, an ungainly mongrel pup, was loping about the road... Paul swam in his ungainly way to the side of the pool. = clumsy ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Clumsy, awkward, uncouth, uncourtly, inelegant, clownish, boorish, gawky, loutish, lubberly, lumbering, slouching, ungraceful, stiff.

Moby Thesaurus

all thumbs, awkward, blunderheaded, blundering, boorish, bumbling, bungling, butterfingered, careless, clownish, clumsy, clumsy-fisted, cumbersome, fingers all thumbs, fumbling, gauche, gawkish, gawky, graceless, ham-fisted, ham-handed, heavy-handed, hulking, hulky, inelegant, left-hand, left-handed, loutish, lubberly, lumbering, lumpish, maladroit, oafish, ponderous, sloppy, splay, stiff, uncouth, ungraced, ungraceful, unhandy, unwieldy