ungainly
adjective
Did you know?
What do you have to gain by knowing the root of ungainly? Plenty. The gain in ungainly is an obsolete English adjective meaning "direct" that ultimately comes from the Old Norse preposition gegn, meaning "against." (It is unrelated to the noun in "economic gains" or the verb in "gain an advantage"; those came to English by way of Anglo-French.) Ungainly can describe someone who is clumsy, as in "a tall, ungainly man"; or something that causes you to feel clumsy when you try to handle it, as in "a car with ungainly controls"; or something that simply looks awkward and out of place, as in "an ungainly strip mall."
Synonyms
Examples of ungainly in a Sentence
Mike Hanlon, New Atlas, 12 Oct. 2024
Series 2 cars, built through 1971, made concessions to U.S. safety regulations, and the Series 3 cars, available as a convertible and an ungainly 2+2, were powered by a 5.3-liter V12 engine.
—Robert Ross, Robb Report, 28 Sep. 2024
Unfortunately, such spaciousness has long come at a price that includes ungainly styling, severely narrow staterooms in the outer hulls, and squirrely handling on big seas—not to mention a lack of compatibility with many marina slips due to the form’s bulky proportions.
—Michael Verdon, Robb Report, 4 Aug. 2024
The hagiography of the Arena brand doesn’t always fit in with the rest of ESPN’s programming, which is an ungainly mix of live sports, commercials for sports gambling and news reports on the damaging impact of sports gambling on live sports.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 23 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for ungainly 
Dictionary Entries Near ungainly
Cite this Entry
“Ungainly.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ungainly. Accessed 26 Nov. 2024.
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