Meaning

1 senses

  1. (rare)An ungainly person or thing.

Examples

6 sentences

  1. Very tall people can often be ungainly.

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  2. His ungainly movements on the dance floor drew everyone's attention.

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  3. She felt self-conscious about her ungainly attempts at ice skating.

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  4. The toddler's first steps were ungainly as she wobbled and stumbled.

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  5. The ogre's terrible size and strength were tempered only by its ungainly movement.

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Origin

From un- (“not”) + gainly (“graceful; becoming; proper, suitable; gracious, kindly”) (from

From un- (“not”) + gainly (“graceful; becoming; proper, suitable; gracious, kindly”) (from gain (“dexterous; convenient, easy, handy; suitable”), from Old Norse gegn (“fit, serviceable; direct, straight; honest; kindly”) + -ly (suffix forming adjectives from nouns)). Compare dialectal Norwegian Nynorsk ugjegnleg (“stubborn; troublesome”).

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Forms

plural: ungainlies
Singularungainly
Pluralungainlies

regular

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
unfriendlyB1unfulfilledunfurlungodlyB2ungrateful
ungainly — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto