noun
definition
An ungainly person or thing.
adjective
definition
Clumsy; lacking grace.
definition
Difficult to move or to manage; unwieldy.
definition
Unsuitable; unprofitable.
Examples of ungainly in a Sentence
He was ungainly, with rickety legs.
The horses and cattle are of a degenerate type, small, ungainly and inured to neglect and hard usage.
The principal church, among many, is the cathedral of St Michael, a large, ungainly building of grey sandstone.
The general shape of the animal is ungainly, owing to a huge hump on the withers, at which point the height is about 3 ft.
The sides of the atrium are unfortunately occupied by plain ungainly buildings five storeys in height, awkwardly accommodating themselves to the upward slope of the ground.
His banter is nearly always ungainly, his wit blunt, as Johnson said, and often unseasonable.
The maharaja's palace, a huge, rambling, ungainly building, stands in the centre of the town, which also contains numerous temples.
The design was sound if somewhat ungainly due to its flat sides.
Unfortunately they appeared to be under-rehearsed and it looked pretty ungainly at times.
Destitute of natural oratorical gifts and somewhat ungainly in his manner, he attracted and even riveted the attention of his audience by a rare combination of intellectual keenness, emotional fervour, spiritual insight and power of dramatic representation of character and life.
His ungainly movement and grinning face were very different from Buckingham's effortlessly suave, understated elegance.
He was so ungainly, so pimply about the head, so scaly about the legs, yet so serene, so unspeakably satisfied!
With his slightly ungainly style, it was great to see him in full flight, top-knot billowing in the wind.
For a man whose gait is a little ungainly, he has always possessed such delicacy of touch, such deft balance.
The speed of their attack is quite unexpected because they actually appear quite ungainly.
In the forest he would be thought ungainly, because his face is stretched out and his neck is uselessly long.
How surprised must the fishes be to see this ungainly visitor from another sphere speeding his way amid their schools!
With its huge ungainly limbs sprawling unsymmetrically, and its gnarled hands and fingers, it stood an aged, stern, and scornful monster among the smiling birch trees.
His ungainly movement and grinning face were very different from Buckingham 's effortlessly suave, understated elegance.
Despite its ungainly appearance it also has a fair turn of speed.
You do n't just lurch around the rink in an ungainly fashion any more.
By 1.30 we were all making our ungainly way through the canals and crawls of the entrance passage.
Symonds staggered back and fell in an ungainly, unconscious heap on the floor.
Can she not see that my hair has flattened against head in ungainly manner?
Such a merger would produce an ungainly monster in which our standards would be seriously diluted.
He was so ungainly, so pimply about the head, so scaly about the legs, yet so serene, so unspeakably satisfied !
A rather ungainly and innocent caterpillar wraps itself in a cocoon, much like an engaged couple wraps themselves in the flurry of wedding planning.
Also, if you go any bigger than 3 carats, you end up with a stone that could get ungainly, especially if your bride to be has small or delicate fingers.
Within a month the replicas you paid at least $100 for will be looking as worn and ungainly as a pair of ordinary shoes.
Once you get past the ungainly appearance of these shoes, is there anyone who can't wear Crocs?
Monroe was about six feet tall, but, being stoop-shouldered and rather ungainly seemed less; his eyes, a greyish blue, were deep-set and kindly; his face was delicate, naturally refined, and prematurely lined.
It is by sheer strength of thought, by the vigorous perspicacity with which he strikes the lines of cleavage of his subject, that he makes his way into the mind of the reader; in the presence of gifts of this power we need not quarrel with an ungainly style.
His personal appearance was remarkable, and not imposing, for he was very short, with plain features, ungainly gestures and manners, very near-sighted, and of disagreeable voice; yet he became (after wisely giving up an attempt at the ornate style of oratory) a very effective speaker in a kind of conversational manner, and in the epigram of debate he had no superior among the statesmen of his time except Lord Beaconsfield.
These are P. megapodius, called El Turco by the natives, which is noticeable for its ungainly appearance and awkward gait; the P. albicollis, which inhabits barren hillsides and is called tapacollo from the manner of carrying its tail turned far forward over its back; the P. rubecula, of Chiloe, a small timid denizen of the gloomy forest, called the cheucau or chuca, whose two or three notes are believed by the superstitious natives to be auguries of impending success or disaster; and an allied species (Hylactes Tarnii, King) called the guid-guid or barking bird, whose cry is a close imitation of the yelp of a small dog.
In spite of his ungainly exterior and peculiar manner, his happy gifts of exposition and illustration won him extraordinary popularity as a lecturer, his experiments were ingenious and rapidly performed, and Coleridge went to hear him "to increase his stock of metaphors."
It took him a while, his movement hindered by the ungainly wooden splint strapped to his leg.
These grand specimens had to endure a rather ungainly journey here on the back of an enormous, articulated lorry.
When the young scholar presented himself to the rulers of that society, they were amazed not more by his ungainly figure and eccentric manners than by the quantity of extensive and curious information which he had picked up during many months of desultory but not unprofitable study.
In strong contrast to the ungainly toucan is the tiny humming-bird, whose beautiful plumage, swiftness of flight and power of wing are sources of constant wonder and admiration.