Synonym Chooser

How does the adjective cumbrous differ from other similar words?

Some common synonyms of cumbrous are cumbersome, heavy, ponderous, and weighty. While all these words mean "having great weight," cumbrous and cumbersome imply heaviness and bulkiness that make for difficulty in grasping, moving, carrying, or manipulating.

wrestled with the cumbrous furniture
early cameras were cumbersome and inconvenient

When could heavy be used to replace cumbrous?

The synonyms heavy and cumbrous are sometimes interchangeable, but heavy implies that something has greater density or thickness than the average of its kind or class.

a heavy child for his age

Where would ponderous be a reasonable alternative to cumbrous?

While in some cases nearly identical to cumbrous, ponderous implies having great weight because of size and massiveness with resulting great inertia.

ponderous elephants in a circus parade

In what contexts can weighty take the place of cumbrous?

The meanings of weighty and cumbrous largely overlap; however, weighty suggests having actual and not just relative weight.

a load of weighty boxes

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of cumbrous There were three good reasons to abandon the Clean Power Plan, and EPA administrator Scott Pruitt cited two of them in his decision, announced Monday, to rescind the cumbrous carbon dioxide rule. The Editors, National Review, 9 Oct. 2017 The Road Home Program, a state program supposed to help rebuild, was cumbrous and slow, and grants often didn’t cover the cost of repairs. Washington Post, 1 Sep. 2017 The ordinary secular mode of divorce in India is, like any other Indian legal proceeding, rather more cumbrous. Kevin D. Williamson, National Review, 27 Aug. 2017
Recent Examples of Synonyms for cumbrous
Adjective
  • Unlike clumsier species that struggle with obstacles, the black mamba leverages every surface with surgical precision, effectively turning the landscape into a series of launchpads.
    Scott Travers, Forbes.com, 29 Mar. 2025
  • There’s also a touching subplot for the clumsy, muted Dopey (Andrew Barth Feldman), who’s regularly the butt of the other dwarfs’ jokes.
    Patrick Ryan, USA TODAY, 21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • While Susan’s style gets all the attention, there’s a story to be told in Roberta’s awkward glow-up, too.
    Scarlett Harris, CNN Money, 26 Mar. 2025
  • The timing is awkward for Google, coming just days after Microsoft’s latest warning implying users would be safer switching from Chrome to Edge.
    Zak Doffman, Forbes.com, 26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • As legal professionals gain increasing authority over AI deployment decisions, new internal stakeholders are introduced, making the organizational process of adopting AI systems more cumbersome.
    Nizan Geslevich Packin, Forbes.com, 28 Mar. 2025
  • Like so many others, they are left with an impossible choice: involve the criminal justice system — which may be slow, cumbersome and invasive — or do nothing and hope the situation doesn’t escalate.
    Eric Gonzalez, New York Daily News, 26 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • The New York Yankees injury list is reaching unwieldy levels.
    Russel Honoré, Newsweek, 6 Mar. 2025
  • The result is a system that makes traditional notions of childhood – with its unwieldy dependencies, its inefficient play and its demands for attention and care – increasingly untenable.
    Anna Mae Duane, The Conversation, 5 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Examples imported from 1975 through 1985 had rather ungainly impact bumpers, so early, chrome-bumper cars are aesthetically more desirable.
    Robert Ross, Robb Report, 21 Feb. 2025
  • You're locked into an ungainly, spread armed, weak kneed Character: snowplow.
    Outside Online, Outside Online, 19 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • With their colossal bodies and ponderous feet, elephants have never struck me as masters of hide-and-seek.
    Chris Schalkx, Travel + Leisure, 16 Mar. 2025
  • Yunan The Bottom Line Not without ponderous moments, but poetic and affecting.
    David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter, 25 Feb. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Cumbrous.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/cumbrous. Accessed 5 Apr. 2025.

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