Meanings
comparative more unwieldy · archaic comparative unwieldier · superlative most unwieldy · archaic superlative unwieldiest · alternative nonstandard possibly uncommon unwieldly
- obsoleteUngraceful in movement.
- Difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate because of its size, weight, shape or complexity.
Recorded music came in unwieldy packages and odd shapes.
2017 February 9, Rob Long, “Why I won’t invest in anything that involves effort”, in The National (UAE)3 more examples
She is popular with passengers as an all-weather vessel, but rather the reverse with yachtsmen as she has at times proved somewhat unwieldy, and certainly takes up a good deal of space in the narrow channels.
1956 February, R. C. Riley, “The Lymington Railway and Isle of Wight Ferry”, in Railway Magazine, page 82However, the constellation of Argo Navis was so huge and unwieldy that in the 1932 revision, the International Astronomical Union committee chopped it up into a keel (Carina), a poop (Puppis) and sails (Vela).
1985, Patrick Moore, Stargazing: Astronomy without a telescope, Aurum Press, →ISBN, page 18The railways that would be fused to create the unwieldy Northern Line were the City & South London and the Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead Railway, known as the 'Hampstead Tube'.
2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 175Synonyms: unmanageable, unwieldsome · Antonyms: wieldy
- Badly managed or operated.
Synonyms & antonyms
adjectiveDifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate because of its size, weight, shape or complexity.
More synonyms by meaning
adjectivedifficult to use or handle or manage because of size or weight or shape
adjectivedifficult to work or manipulate
Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.
Origin
- Middle Englishunweldy
- Englishunwieldy
From Middle English unweldy, equivalent to un- + wieldy. Cognate with Old Frisian unweldich, unweldech (“having no power, involuntary”), Middle Dutch onweldich (“having no control or mastery over”), Middle Low German unweldich (“unwieldy”). Compare also Old High German unwaltīg (“powerless”), whence Middle High German unwaltic, German ungewaltig (“powerless, unmighty”).
More words from Middle English
Full word history & related roots →Translations
Bulgarian неудобен
- неудобен (neudoben)difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Catalan farragós, immanejable
- farragósdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- immanejabledifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Chinese Mandarin 笨重的
- 笨重的 (bènzhòng de)difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Czech nešikovný, neohrabaný
- nešikovnýdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- neohrabanýdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Danish uhåndterlig
- uhåndterligdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Dutch log
- logdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Esperanto grandaĉa, maloportuna
- grandaĉadifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- maloportunadifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- malpraktikadifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- misportendadifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Finnish kömpelö, hankala
- kömpelödifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- hankaladifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
French encombrant, lourd
- encombrantdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- lourddifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- peu maniabledifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
German unhandlich, schwerfällig
- unhandlichdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- schwerfälligdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- sperrigdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- klobigdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Hungarian ormótlan
- ormótlandifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Irish liobarnach, anásta
- liobarnachdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- anástadifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Italian scomodo, ingombrante
- scomododifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- ingombrantedifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Latin inhabilis
- inhabilisdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Māori pūhetī, pūwhetī
- pūhetīdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- pūwhetīdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- pūhekidifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- pūwhekidifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Norwegian tungvinn
- tungvinndifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Norwegian Bokmål uhåndterlig, uhandterlig
- uhåndterligdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- uhandterligdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Polish nieporęczny
- nieporęcznydifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Portuguese imanejável, imanuseável
- imanejáveldifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- imanuseáveldifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Russian неподъёмный, неудобный
- неподъёмный (nepodʺjómnyj)difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- неудобный (neudobnyj)difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Spanish farragoso
- farragosodifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Swedish otymplig
- otympligdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Thai เทอะทะ, อุ้ยอ้าย
- เทอะทะdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- อุ้ยอ้ายdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- ไม่เหมาะมือdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
- ไม่คล่องตัวdifficult to carry, handle, manage or operate
Cite this entry
unwieldy. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unwieldy
“unwieldy.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unwieldy. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “unwieldy,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/unwieldy.
Source: unwieldy on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.