What is another word for ungainly?

Pronunciation: [ʌnɡˈe͡ɪnli] (IPA)

Ungainly is typically used to describe someone or something that is awkward, clumsy, or awkward looking. If you need synonyms for this word, there are many options to choose from. Clumsy, inelegant, awkward, uncoordinated, ungallant, and graceless are all commonly used words to describe individuals who seem ungraceful or unskilled in their movements. Other synonyms include bumbling, ungovernable, unwieldy, ponderous, and lumbering, although these words may also carry additional connotations like being unmanageable or difficult to control. Alternatively, to describe something that is unsightly or ungainly in appearance, you could use the terms unsightly, unattractive, grotesque, or monstrous.

Synonyms for Ungainly:

What are the hypernyms for Ungainly?

A hypernym is a word with a broad meaning that encompasses more specific words called hyponyms.

What are the opposite words for ungainly?

Ungainly is an adjective that describes someone or something awkward or clumsy in movement or appearance. The antonyms to this word are graceful, agile, coordinated, nimble, elegant, polished, refined, slick, smooth, and precise. These adjectives suggest a level of poise, dexterity, and athleticism that contradicts ungracefulness. For instance, an ungainly person might be seen as stumbling, tripping, or bumbling, whereas a graceful person is perceived as gliding, floating, or flowing. Similarly, an ungainly object might be categorized as bulky, cumbersome, or unwieldy while a sleek object is associated with modernity, efficiency, and sophistication. Hence, antonyms for ungraceful highlight elegance and fluidity in physical movements or product design.

Usage examples for Ungainly

That useful but ungainly ship of the southern deserts, the ox-wagon, was much in evidence.
"Reminiscences of a South African Pioneer"
W. C. Scully
He was very tall and ungainly, with a long neck and a small round head on the top of it.
"Hodge and His Masters"
Richard Jefferies
He seemed suddenly ungainly-as if all sport like this were mockery and he had merely been carried on in these lower currents for a price.
"Son of Power"
Will Levington Comfort and Zamin Ki Dost

Famous quotes with Ungainly

  • After a momentary silence spake Some Vessel of a more ungainly Make; "They sneer at me for leaning all awry: What! did the Hand then of the Potter shake?"
    Omar Khayyám
  • If the engineer does not honor the nature of the steel or the wood or the stone, his or her failure will go well beyond aesthetics: the bridge or the building will collapse and put human life in peril. The human self also has a nature, limits as well as potentials. If you seek vocation without understanding the material you are working with, what you build with your life will be ungainly and may well put lives in peril, your own and some of those around you. “Faking it” in the service of high values is no virtue and has nothing to do with vocation. It is an ignorant, sometimes arrogant, attempt to override one’s nature, and it will always fail.
    Parker Palmer
  • Most striking, perhaps, in their general appearance was the disproportion between the legs of these creatures and the length of their bodies; and yet — so relative is our idea of grace — my eye became habituated to their forms, and at last I even fell in with their persuasion that my own long thighs were ungainly.
    H. G. Wells
  • For a moment he studied the massive figure who stood calmly between the two Civil Policemen. Beside him, they seemed to have shrunk, become ungainly and repellent.
    Philip K. Dick
  • In secrecy, bureaucracies grow large, ungainly and unaccountable to those they are meant to serve. When there is no fierce spotlight of public accountability shining, there is no pressure to ensure systems are streamlined or even working. What you find throughout any bureaucracy protected by secrecy is a cesspit of illogic and waste. And because the state keeps rebranding, shifting responsibility from one set of bureaucrats to another, most of the work being done is for the purpose of keeping other bureaucrats in employment rather than satisfying the needs of the public.
    Heather Brooke

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