CLUMSYmoving in a way that does not look graceful 〔动作〕笨拙的,难看的,不优雅的
a tall ungainly teenager
一个动作笨拙的高个子少年
—ungainliness noun [uncountableU]
Examples from the Corpus
ungainly• I felt old, fat, and ungainly.• They were, in a word, ungainly.• She was old, fat and ungainly, and had to struggle to get to her feet.• It was ungainly, and slow, but the method worked.• It was four feet tall, ungainly and untuned, and Clarisa was no musician.• Dinosaurs were hugeungainly animals with tinybrains.• What a relief I thought, that that ungainly thing was no longer needed by me.• He had been an attractiveyouth, tall, rather ungainly, with a thatch of black hair.
Originungainly
(1600-1700)gainly“proper, graceful, pleasing”((14-20 centuries)), from gain“direct, kind, useful”((10-19 centuries)), from Old Norsegegn