1
: heavy and spiritless
our thoughts cloddish from unending toil
2
: stolid and boorish
set apart from the cloddish world about them by their heightened capacity for feeling—
Mark Schorer
Mark Schorer
cloddishness
noun
Nobody knows better than Miss Manners that cloddishness is a social menace, but apparently no one else knows that the cure for it is not the cloddishness of going around "enlightening" people about how unpleasant one finds their pleasantries.
—Judith Martin, Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility, 1999
Judith Martin, Miss Manners' Guide to Domestic Tranquility, 1999
Examples of clod in a Sentence
Noun
Her husband's such a clod.
despite his imposing size, he's no simple clod
Recent Examples on the Web
Siddhant Pusdekar, Quanta Magazine, 1 June 2026
To craft the burger, the team coarsely grinds — twice — the leftover pieces of meat and fat trimmed from either a brisket or shoulder clod, then forms 8-ounce-thick patties, which are rolled in a housemade all-purpose rub and 16-mesh pepper and smoked for two hours.
—Sam Flemming, AJC.com, 20 May 2026
At first, the object that surfaced was inconspicuous, packed in a wet clod of earth.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 17 May 2026
After loosening the soil, gently lift the clump out of the ground and remove any soil clods.
—Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for clod
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Noun
According to the authors, their results suggest that clods of earth can indeed catalyze these reactions without the presence of life.
—Siddhant Pusdekar, Quanta Magazine, 1 June 2026
To craft the burger, the team coarsely grinds — twice — the leftover pieces of meat and fat trimmed from either a brisket or shoulder clod, then forms 8-ounce-thick patties, which are rolled in a housemade all-purpose rub and 16-mesh pepper and smoked for two hours.
—Sam Flemming, AJC.com, 20 May 2026
At first, the object that surfaced was inconspicuous, packed in a wet clod of earth.
—Maria Mocerino, Interesting Engineering, 17 May 2026
After loosening the soil, gently lift the clump out of the ground and remove any soil clods.
—Andy Wilcox, Better Homes & Gardens, 29 Apr. 2026
See All Example Sentences for clod
Cite this Entry
“Clod.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/clod. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
