1
as in shambling
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Dissimilar Words
2
as in plodding
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Dissimilar Words
1
as in shuffling
to move heavily or clumsily
the elephant lumbered through the jungle
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in stumbling
to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually
the novel's plot lumbers to its predictable conclusion after 500 long pages
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
4
as in loading
to place a weight or burden on
preparations that will lumber the expedition with unnecessary equipment and supplies
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Recent Examples of lumbering
Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 9 June 2026
Large parts of its war effort are now unmanned, the robots, drones, and remotely piloted tanks giving it a sudden, albeit fragile, edge over a lumbering and strained Russian invader.
—Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 30 May 2026
Dunk is the lumbering Hedge Knight hero of this series, Ser Duncan the Tall, played by former rugby player Peter Claffey, while Egg is his wise-beyond-his-years bald young squire (Dexter Sol Ansell).
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 28 May 2026
Nesting involves lumbering ashore and laying eggs in the sand, and that ritual forces the slow-moving turtles to dodge speeding boats and jet skis.
—Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 24 May 2026
The giant sulcata tortoise came lumbering down a suburban Phoenix street one recent spring evening.
—Alina Hartounian, NPR, 18 May 2026
These tanks were mainly slow, lumbering, and limited in range.
—Matthew S Williams, Interesting Engineering, 7 May 2026
Bears were lumbering through neighborhoods, getting into garbage, garages and grills.
—Stephen Hudak, The Orlando Sentinel, 4 May 2026
There were two outs, so Alonso ran on contact, but Alvarez’s inability to collect the baseball quickly allowed the lumbering first baseman to score without even a throw.
—Chandler Rome, New York Times, 1 May 2026
Adjective
The Cubs players continued to taunt Ruth at every opportunity, and a big one came their way in the bottom of the fourth inning when Jurges slashed a sinking liner into right field and the lumbering, top-heavy Babe muffed a shoestring catch.
—Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
Verb
However these timelines have generally been regarded as aggressive by space industry experts, who are more accustomed to NASA moving at a lumbering pace.
—Eric Berger, ArsTechnica, 9 June 2026
Large parts of its war effort are now unmanned, the robots, drones, and remotely piloted tanks giving it a sudden, albeit fragile, edge over a lumbering and strained Russian invader.
—Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 30 May 2026
Dunk is the lumbering Hedge Knight hero of this series, Ser Duncan the Tall, played by former rugby player Peter Claffey, while Egg is his wise-beyond-his-years bald young squire (Dexter Sol Ansell).
—Anne Thompson, IndieWire, 28 May 2026
Nesting involves lumbering ashore and laying eggs in the sand, and that ritual forces the slow-moving turtles to dodge speeding boats and jet skis.
—Mark Price, Charlotte Observer, 24 May 2026
The giant sulcata tortoise came lumbering down a suburban Phoenix street one recent spring evening.
—Alina Hartounian, NPR, 18 May 2026
These tanks were mainly slow, lumbering, and limited in range.
—Matthew S Williams, Interesting Engineering, 7 May 2026
Bears were lumbering through neighborhoods, getting into garbage, garages and grills.
—Stephen Hudak, The Orlando Sentinel, 4 May 2026
There were two outs, so Alonso ran on contact, but Alvarez’s inability to collect the baseball quickly allowed the lumbering first baseman to score without even a throw.
—Chandler Rome, New York Times, 1 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lumbering
Adjective
-
With almost no plan, Sonny makes a shambling attempt at an armed robbery, only to end up trapped in the bank with the manager and five female tellers as his hostages.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
31 Mar. 2026
-
One rarely gains a sense of what people look like (beyond the son’s bulky physique and shambling movements, in which the mother ‘caught a flash of her brother’).—
Dan Sheehan,
Literary Hub,
22 Jan. 2026
Adjective
-
Brunson was too small (6-foot-2), not long enough (with a 6-foot-4 wingspan) and too plodding.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
3 June 2026
-
Neither is known for having much of an off-the-dribble game that could hurt the plodding Porzingis or Horford.—
Joseph Dycus,
Mercury News,
17 Apr. 2026
Verb
-
The model of shuffling that the new result depends on, like Bayer and Diaconis’ before it, still assumes that the cards riffle down one by one, rather than in clumps.—
John Pavlus,
Quanta Magazine,
17 June 2026
-
The Calgary Flames will play their final season at Scotiabank Saddledome before shuffling into Scotia Place in 2027.—
Julian McKenzie,
New York Times,
10 June 2026
Verb
-
Bryan’s stumbling responses, under questioning from the legendary defense lawyer Clarence Darrow, left him humiliated.—
Michael Luo,
New Yorker,
14 June 2026
-
The Grimm Brothers fairy tale follows a pair of famished siblings who get lost in the woods and entrapped by a child-eating witch, after stumbling upon her cottage made of candy.—
Patrick Ryan,
USA Today,
13 June 2026
Verb
-
Bored Lord and AceMo, longtime bastions of their respective coastal scenes, offer up two rumbling club heaters.—
Benny Sun,
Pitchfork,
17 June 2026
-
While the men’s World Cup is commanding the attention of many, the summer transfer window is rumbling in the background.—
Leon Imber,
New York Times,
13 June 2026
Verb
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To address this workflow conundrum, Maono has developed the P Series, which directly addresses this shift towards hybrid workflows and connectivity, where equipment needs to be streamlined for multi-device creation without loading on the technical complexity.—
Mark Sparrow,
Forbes.com,
14 June 2026
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Of course, Macy is not actually spending late nights at the distillery twisting knobs and loading the wash into fermenters.—
Jonah Flicker,
Robb Report,
14 June 2026
Adjective
-
On March 4, the walls of a Travis County courtroom in Austin felt wobbly with grief.—
Karen Valby,
Vanity Fair,
16 June 2026
-
Double heel raises, which are a breeze on land, were nearly impossible on the wobbly mat.—
Deborah Vankin,
Los Angeles Times,
15 June 2026
Adjective
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When one party controls virtually every lever of power, the incentive to reform a cumbersome system diminishes.—
Matt Klink,
Oc Register,
10 June 2026
-
The legislation amended a cumbersome, multi-step process for over-the-counter drugs in an effort to create a more efficient system.—
Mary Walrath-Holdridge,
USA Today,
9 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Lumbering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lumbering. Accessed 20 Jun. 2026.
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