Word origins - 2ed. J. Ayto. 2005.
Unwieldy — Un*wield y, a. Not easily wielded or carried; unmanageable; bulky; ponderous. A fat, unwieldy body of fifty eight years old. Clarendon. [1913 Webster] {Un*wield i*ly}, adv. {Un*wield i*ness}, n. [1913 Webster] … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
unwieldy — index impracticable, onerous, ponderous Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 … Law dictionary
unwieldy — late 14c., lacking strength, from UN (Cf. un ) (1) not + O.E. wielde active, vigorous, from P.Gmc. *walth have power (see WIELD (Cf. wield)). Meaning moving ungracefully is recorded from 1520s; in ref. to weapons, difficult to handle, awkward by… … Etymology dictionary
unwieldy — [adj] awkward, bulky burdensome, clumsy, cumbersome, cumbrous, encumbering, gross, hefty, inconvenient, lumbering, massive, onerous, ponderous, uncontrollable, ungainly, unhandy, unmanageable, weighty; concepts 562,781 Ant. convenient, handy … New thesaurus
unwieldy — ► ADJECTIVE (unwieldier, unwieldiest) ▪ hard to move or manage because of its size, shape, or weight. DERIVATIVES unwieldiness noun. ORIGIN originally in the sense «lacking strength»: from WIELDY(Cf. ↑W) (in the obsolete sense «active») … English terms dictionary
unwieldy — [unwēl′dē] adj. 1. hard to wield, manage, handle, or deal with, as because of large size or weight, or awkward form 2. Now Rare awkward; clumsy unwieldiness n … English World dictionary
unwieldy — [[t]ʌnwi͟ːldi[/t]] 1) ADJ GRADED If you describe an object as unwieldy, you mean that it is difficult to move or carry because it is so big or heavy. They came panting up to his door with their unwieldy baggage. Syn: cumbersome 2) ADJ GRADED If… … English dictionary
unwieldy — un|wield|y [ʌnˈwi:ldi] adj [Date: 1300 1400; Origin: wieldy agile, easy to handle (14 20 centuries), from wield] 1.) an unwieldy object is big, heavy, and difficult to carry or use 2.) an unwieldy system, argument, or organization is difficult to … Dictionary of contemporary English
unwieldy — adjective 1 an unwieldy object is big and heavy and difficult to carry 2 an unwieldy system, argument, or plan is difficult to control or manage because it is too complicated: unwieldy bureaucracy unwieldiness noun (U) … Longman dictionary of contemporary English
unwieldy — [14] Unwieldy originally meant ‘weak, feeble’ (‘a toothless, old, impotent, and unwieldy woman’, Reginald Scot, Discovery of Witch craft 1584). The meaning ‘awkward to handle’ developed in the 16th century. The word was based on the now seldom… … The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins
