unwieldy

English

Alternative forms

• unwieldly (less common, possibly nonstandard)

Etymology

From Middle English unweldi, equivalent to un- +‎ wieldy. Cognate with Middle Low German unweldich (“unwieldy”).

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˌʌnˈwɪəl.di/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

Adjective

unwieldy (comparative more unwieldy or (archaic) unwieldier, superlative most unwieldy or (archaic) unwieldiest)

1. (obsolete) Lacking strength; weak.
2. (obsolete) Ungraceful in movement.
3. Difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate because of its size, weight, shape or complexity.

   Synonyms: unmanageable, (archaic) unwieldsome

   Antonym: wieldy

   • 1985, Patrick Moore, Stargazing: Astronomy without a telescope, Aurum Press, →ISBN, page 18:

     However, 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).

   • 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 175:

     The 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'.

   • 2017 February 9, Rob Long, “Why I won’t invest in anything that involves effort”, in The National (UAE)‎^[1]:

     Recorded music came in unwieldy packages and odd shapes.

4. Badly managed or operated.

   (Can we add an example for this sense?)

Derived terms

• unwieldiness

Translations

difficult to carry, handle, manage or operate

• Bulgarian: неудобен (bg) (neudoben)
• Catalan: farragós (ca) m, immanejable
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Czech: nešikovný (cs) m, neohrabaný m
• Danish: uhåndterlig
• Dutch: log (nl)
• Esperanto: grandaĉa
• Finnish: kömpelö (fi), hankala (fi)
• French: encombrant (fr), lourd (fr), peu maniable
• German: unhandlich, schwerfällig (de), sperrig (de), klobig (de)
• Hungarian: ormótlan (hu)
• Irish: liobarnach, anásta
• Italian: scomodo (it) m, ingombrante (it)
• Latin: inhabilis
• Manx: meydlagh, lheibeidjagh, trome, neuyesh
• Maori: pūhetī, pūwhetī, pūheki, pūwheki
• Norwegian: tungvinn

  Bokmål: uhåndterlig, uhandterlig

  Nynorsk: uhandterleg, ulagleg

• Plautdietsch: schwoafalich
• Polish: nieporęczny (pl)
• Portuguese: imanejável, imanuseável
• Russian: неподъёмный (ru) (nepodʺjómnyj), неудобный (ru) m (neudobnyj)
• Spanish: farragoso (es)
• Swedish: otymplig (sv)

References

• Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “unwieldy”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.