CLUMSINESS

Pronunciation (US):

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does clumsiness mean? 

• CLUMSINESS (noun)
  The noun CLUMSINESS has 3 senses:

1. unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training

2. the carriage of someone whose movements and posture are ungainly or inelegant

3. the inelegance of someone stiff and unrelaxed (as by embarrassment)

  Familiarity information: CLUMSINESS used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CLUMSINESS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Unskillfulness resulting from a lack of training

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Synonyms:

awkwardness; clumsiness; ineptitude; ineptness; maladroitness; slowness

Hypernyms ("clumsiness" is a kind of...):

unskillfulness (a lack of cognitive skill)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clumsiness"):

rustiness (ineptitude or awkwardness as a consequence of age or lack of practice)

Derivation:

clumsy (showing lack of skill or aptitude)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The carriage of someone whose movements and posture are ungainly or inelegant

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

awkwardness; clumsiness

Hypernyms ("clumsiness" is a kind of...):

bearing; carriage; posture (characteristic way of bearing one's body)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clumsiness"):

gracelessness; ungracefulness (an unpleasant lack of grace in carriage or form or movement or expression)

gawkiness; ungainliness (the carriage of someone whose movements and posture are extremely ungainly and inelegant)

stiffness (the property of moving with pain or difficulty)

Derivation:

clumsy (lacking grace in movement or posture)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The inelegance of someone stiff and unrelaxed (as by embarrassment)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

awkwardness; clumsiness; gracelessness; stiffness

Hypernyms ("clumsiness" is a kind of...):

inelegance (the quality of lacking refinement and good taste)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "clumsiness"):

woodenness (the quality of being wooden and awkward)

gaucherie; rusticity (the quality of being rustic or gauche)

Derivation:

clumsy (not elegant or graceful in expression)

 Context examples 

Treatment focuses on the three main symptoms: poor communication skills, obsessive or repetitive routines, and physical clumsiness.

(Asperger Syndrome, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)

Symptoms may appear at any age and include uncontrolled movements, clumsiness, balance problems, difficulty walking, talking, or swallowing.

(Huntington's Disease, NCI Thesaurus)

I was sorry to notice that my clumsiness with the safety-pin hurt her.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

But even his earliest efforts were not marked with the clumsiness of mediocrity.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

“Tut, it is only a scratch through my own clumsiness,” he answered, nodding his good-mornings to us.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Early symptoms of HD may include uncontrolled movements, clumsiness, and balance problems.

(Huntington's Disease, NIH: National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke)

What characterized them was the clumsiness of too great strength—the clumsiness which the tyro betrays when he crushes butterflies with battering rams and hammers out vignettes with a war-club.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)