klutz 1 of 2

as in lummox
a clumsy, awkward person how can she be such a klutz after studying ballet for so many years?

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klutzy

2 of 2

adjective

as in clumsy
having or showing an inability to move in a graceful manner a klutzy kid who was always bumping into things a klutzy play that somehow ended in a touchdown

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Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of klutz
Noun
Leslie played along, pretending to be a klutz who liked being harshed by a pre-school kid. Noor Hassan, Rolling Stone, 21 June 2025 While one side of the frame shows Pia racing to meet her mother at the bank, conveying her struggle as a hapless klutz, the other half displays a henna ceremony interstitial, elegantly establishing the beauty of tradition and community. Courtney Howard, Variety, 6 Mar. 2025 Join for hilarious segments like kids on the naughty list, Christmas klutzes, and those hilariously fed up with the festivities. Rebecca Angel Baer, Southern Living, 27 Nov. 2024 Gender-flipping a few genre tropes — like showing the guy as the klutz and having the girl chase him down to proclaim her love — no longer passes for subversive. Courtney Howard, Variety, 28 Mar. 2025 While one side of the frame shows Pia racing to meet her mother at the bank, conveying her struggle as a hapless klutz, the other half displays a henna ceremony interstitial, elegantly establishing the beauty of tradition and community. Courtney Howard, Variety, 6 Mar. 2025 Playing Dawn Summers, Trachtenberg joined the show in 2000, as Buffy's younger sister, who was at times bratty, sulky, and a bit of a klutz — but nonetheless offered a new and exciting sibling dynamic for the show to explore. Shania Russell, EW.com, 26 Feb. 2025 Join for hilarious segments like kids on the naughty list, Christmas klutzes, and those hilariously fed up with the festivities. Rebecca Angel Baer, Southern Living, 27 Nov. 2024 On-the-go photographers, field workers, and hopeless klutzes will want to give this tough drive a strong second look. John Burek, PCMAG, 10 July 2024
Recent Examples of Synonyms for klutz
Noun
  • Over nearly two centuries, the herbivore has been imagined as a spike-nosed lummox, inappropriate kangaroo and now, at last, a stiff-tailed, mostly quadrupedal animal.
    Gemma Tarlach, Discover Magazine, 20 Apr. 2017
  • Fraser was everywhere in the 1990s and early 2000s: a sweetly handsome, blue-eyed lummox whose starring roles established him as a perpetual naif.
    Ty Burr, Washington Post, 1 Dec. 2022
Adjective
  • This is a huge bonus for a clumsy gal like myself, who often trips over air.
    Jacqueline Tempera, People.com, 14 Aug. 2025
  • The scale of the problem became terrifyingly clear during the Covid-19 pandemic, as the Japanese government struggled to respond to a nationwide crisis with clumsy digital tools.
    Jessie Yeung, CNN Money, 9 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • The coming weeks are the slow limp forwards that Putin wants: Tension between Trump and Zelensky first, followed by European pressure on Trump to ease off on Zelensky, followed by awkward and technical stalling over a three-way meeting between Trump, Putin and Zelensky.
    Nick Paton Walsh, CNN Money, 16 Aug. 2025
  • Kyler Murray completed seven of his eight passes, with one awkward misread going for a pick: Third-year running back Bam Knight busted out on a 27-yard rush, and his backfield teammate Emari Demercado took a screen pass all the way to the house.
    Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 16 Aug. 2025
Noun
  • Wang insists dub is not about replicating that behavior under another name.
    Nino Paoli, Fortune, 15 Aug. 2025
  • The English voice dub has some delightfully odd casting choices, such as Peter Boyle as Haru's fat white cat guide and Elliott Gould as a raven named Toto.
    Devan Coggan, EW.com, 1 Aug. 2025
Adjective
  • Moreover, uncoordinated attacks, often by motivated individuals acting on their own, can still occur, as has happened in Israel since 2023.
    DANIEL BYMAN, Foreign Affairs, 28 July 2025
  • In my experience, a single, properly underwritten advance is almost always safer and more sustainable than several uncoordinated ones.
    Raymond Grand, Forbes.com, 23 July 2025
Noun
  • Carrie raves to Seema about her creative connection with Duncan, and during another writing session, Duncan helps Carrie with her faulty printer and gawks at her closet full of designer dresses and shoes.
    Dave Nemetz, TVLine, 31 July 2025
  • Here, the blurring is visual: Sometimes Leonard floats into the past looking like Gere, who wears the character without a shred of self-protection as the lens gawks at his raw skin.
    Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 12 Dec. 2024
Noun
  • One of the synthetic pyrethroids could also help control the young lubber grasshoppers.
    Tom MacCubbin, The Orlando Sentinel, 5 Apr. 2025
  • Unlike other grasshopper species which are winged and agile, the lubber can't fly.
    Adriana Brasileiro, orlandosentinel.com, 19 July 2019
Noun
  • That reliable iron lump brings the 5,000-pound car to 60 mph from a standstill in about 10 seconds, not so brisk a pace as to blow off a bad hairpiece.
    Robert Ross, Robb Report, 15 Aug. 2025
  • Neck lumps should always be checked by a doctor.16 Most lumps in adults are not cancerous.
    Karen Pallarito, Health, 11 Aug. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Klutz.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/klutz. Accessed 28 Aug. 2025.

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