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clunky

[kluhng-kee] / ˈklʌŋ ki /






Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

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Like a book publisher shaping a clunky early draft into a bestseller, an executive at the company suggested the scientists punch up the language, which they did.

From Salon Jun. 26, 2026

The clunky machine had around the same amount of computing power as a modern-day toaster.

From MarketWatch May 23, 2026

The Wrap said "at times it betrays its amateur beginnings with clunky plotting."

From Barron's May 20, 2026

Havertz scored by pressing City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, and without his work-rate and intelligence for large parts of this season, the Arsenal attack has looked clunky at times.

From BBC May 1, 2026

Shivering hard, I zipped my body into three layers of fuzzy polypropylene pile underwear and an outer shell of windproof nylon, then pulled my clunky plastic boots on.

From "Into Thin Air" by Jon Krakauer

Making it even broader and clunkier won’t help.

From The Wall Street Journal Dec. 21, 2025

In reality, the transition towards that future is a little clunkier — and a little more fraught with questions about whether it’s the one we really want.

From Salon Jan. 22, 2024

The analytic mode of reasoning is clunkier and more time consuming, often exemplified by “reason, mathematics, and cost-benefit analysis,” says Slovic.

From National Geographic Aug. 17, 2023

As the National Hurricane Center and the World Meteorological Organization explain, affixing names makes things simpler for keeping track, beating the hay out of using something clunkier, such as, say, longitude-latitude coordinates.

From Seattle Times Sep. 25, 2022

Are you aware of the debate among some viewers about whether it’s better to watch the series with subtitles or in the clunkier dubbed version, which offers less nuance?

From New York Times Oct. 18, 2021

Even the dungeons, which are the clunkiest parts of the game, are inventive; they’re shopping malls rather than typical dungeons, and boast mundane objects like cellphones and TVs as enemies.

From Slate Aug. 19, 2021

Even at its clunkiest, it leaves you breathless at the heights of personal expression he achieved.

From Los Angeles Times Mar. 18, 2021

With “Mean Girls,” “Dear Evan Hansen” and “The Prom” already exploring in up-tempo dance numbers the vicissitudes of outcast adolescents, “Be More Chill” enters Broadway’s highest-occupancy lane, in the clunkiest vehicle of them all.

From Washington Post Mar. 10, 2019

That is admittedly the film’s clunkiest line, meant to describe the technological power of the Grid, but representative of its largely uninspired screenplay.

From The Verge Oct. 18, 2017

Even then, student accounts were invariably on the university's oldest, clunkiest machine.

From Underground by Dreyfus, Suelette




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