How to Use clumsy in a Sentence

clumsy

adjective
  • I have very clumsy hands and tend to drop things.
  • She made a clumsy attempt at a joke.
  • I'm sorry about spilling your wine—that was very clumsy of me.
  • The main feature of the dance is a clumsy bit of hand jive.
    Jody Rosen, The New Yorker, 7 Dec. 2022
  • My body is a lovely, clumsy thing to move through the world in.
    Olivia Treynor, Vogue, 1 Nov. 2023
  • This is carbonara for the clumsy, the impatient and the greedy.
    Eric Kim, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2023
  • The results of Sam’s attempts are clumsy and a bit of a mixed bag.
    Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 June 2023
  • Even one of the extras notes how clumsy and comic the movie is.
    Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Dec. 2022
  • Just a clumsy elbow bump and a few worlds of small talk.
    oregonlive, 12 Apr. 2020
  • Another one of the boys laughed and called him a clumsy d-word.
    Damon Young, Washington Post, 7 Mar. 2022
  • Be careful, be clumsy, run hot, stay cool, be the bull in the China shop.
    Jolie Lash, EW.com, 16 Sep. 2021
  • And this—clumsy segue alert—is one way to pull out of a subscription!
    Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 20 June 2024
  • My clumsy, blue skis begin to skim the lake, like a sea gull scanning for snacks.
    Gloria Goodale, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 Oct. 2023
  • Worse still, from the French view, the Emperor is portrayed as a clumsy lover.
    Adam Gopnik, The New Yorker, 30 Nov. 2023
  • The dredges are homemade and clumsy, as big as houseboats.
    Nell Zink, Harper's magazine, 28 Oct. 2019
  • But some bad luck and some clumsy mistakes were the difference as the Rangers dropped to 16-18.
    Dallas News, 7 May 2021
  • There can be no slips of the tongue, no clumsy expression.
    Victor Davis Hanson, National Review, 10 Dec. 2019
  • What was trickiest to nail down was the thing that looks the clumsiest: the student film.
    Sarah Shachat, IndieWire, 1 Oct. 2024
  • Trevor Bauer makes a clumsy grab at the playoff spotlight.
    Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2021
  • The nonslip silicone base on this carafe is great for the clumsy tea lovers.
    Sierra Guardiola, Southern Living, 28 Apr. 2021
  • In less expert hands, the contrast might have felt clumsy.
    and Kevin Jacobsen, EW.com, 13 Aug. 2024
  • And there’s a way of doing that that can be clumsy and flattening.
    Elias Leight, Rolling Stone, 5 Oct. 2021
  • The solution to my clumsy start, I’m told, is to drive more quickly.
    Alistair Charlton, Forbes, 11 May 2021
  • Humpback whales lack lips, so the calves can be clumsy and on very rare occasions miss some of the milk.
    Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023
  • For fans who were used to Lewis as the clumsy Longbottom, his entrance at the end of the second episode comes as a shock.
    Sarah Bahr, New York Times, 18 Jan. 2021
  • The first game in the Last of Us franchise feels a little clumsy by modern standards.
    Luke Winkie, Vulture, 4 May 2021
  • This is clumsy but can still make a better base than a tough, thick one that’s rolled out badly.
    The New York Times News Service Syndicate, The Denver Post, 26 Nov. 2019
  • The drake flies right at me, clumsy and clueless compared to the aloof mallards that have avoided me for the past 90 minutes.
    Phil Bourjaily, Field & Stream, 3 Dec. 2019
  • Trying to play some older classics shreds the eyes and frustrates players with a clumsier control scheme.
    Gieson Cacho, The Mercury News, 23 Oct. 2024
  • Moo Deng's clumsy antics, including trying to nibble her handler despite not having teeth, have stolen the hearts of people all over the globe.
    Jennifer Borresen, USA TODAY, 18 Oct. 2024

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clumsy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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