lumbering 1 of 2

adjective

1
as in shambling

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2
as in plodding

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lumbering

2 of 2

verb

present participle of lumber
1
as in shuffling
to move heavily or clumsily the elephant lumbered through the jungle

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2
as in stumbling
to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually the novel's plot lumbers to its predictable conclusion after 500 long pages

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3
as in rumbling
to make a low heavy rolling sound the horse-drawn wagon lumbered along the trail

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4
as in loading
to place a weight or burden on preparations that will lumber the expedition with unnecessary equipment and supplies

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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 lumbering
Adjective
The Cubs players continued to taunt Ruth at every opportunity, and a big one came their way in the bottom of the fourth inning when Jurges slashed a sinking liner into right field and the lumbering, top-heavy Babe muffed a shoestring catch. — Literary Hub, 8 June 2026
Verb
Imax cameras are lumbering tools that weigh 300 pounds each and roar like Cuisinart blenders. — Brent Lang, Variety, 21 July 2026 Kaishu Sano gave the Samurai Blue the lead in the 29th minute with his first international goal, swooping past a lumbering Casemiro before firing low to goalkeeper Alisson’s right from the edge of the box. — David Hickey, NBC news, 30 June 2026 The invaders’ command-and-control systems were lumbering even before Ukraine began attacking them in earnest. — Phillips Payson O’Brien, The Atlantic, 30 June 2026 Kyle Schwarber was lumbering toward home plate. — Jayson Stark, New York Times, 26 June 2026 The sight of the lumbering actor wearing track clothes and sitting cross-legged while listening to a soothing relaxation tape on headphones is priceless. — Frank Scheck, HollywoodReporter, 22 June 2026 The tractor was still lumbering forward but without me attached to it. — Literary Hub, 22 June 2026 Flocks of tourists maneuvered around lumbering delivery trucks, hawked to by distributors of seemingly unlicensed 2026 Knicks championship gear. — Jacob Feldman, Sportico.com, 18 June 2026 These flights from Perth to Sri Lanka and on to London (in four days) were, made from 1943 to 1945 using lumbering PBY Catalina flying boats. — Michael Goldstein, Forbes.com, 18 June 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lumbering
  1. shambling
  2. plodding
  3. shuffling
  4. stumbling
  5. rumbling
  6. loading
  7. wobbly
  8. cumbersome
Adjective
  • With almost no plan, Sonny makes a shambling attempt at an armed robbery, only to end up trapped in the bank with the manager and five female tellers as his hostages.
    — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 31 Mar. 2026
  • One rarely gains a sense of what people look like (beyond the son’s bulky physique and shambling movements, in which the mother ‘caught a flash of her brother’).
    — Dan Sheehan, Literary Hub, 22 Jan. 2026
Definition of shambling
Adjective
  • During the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, activists from the gay community lambasted him and his institute for the plodding pace of research on the virus.
    — Katherine J. Wu, The Atlantic, 28 July 2026
  • The audience was still as the band started playing a plodding rhythm.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 27 July 2026
Definition of plodding
Verb
  • Few heads turn despite her tall, unmistakable frame shuffling across the floor.
    — Steven J. Horowitz, Variety, 3 Aug. 2026
  • In the Van Morrison video, people are shuffling around him, walking directly in front of or around him, some of them appear to be hustling to somewhere more urgent, some of them may be stopping for a brief glance, and then moving on.
    — Hanif Abdurraqib, New Yorker, 31 July 2026
Definition of shuffling
Verb
  • The most underachieving team on the Los Angeles sports landscape is embarrassingly stumbling through another season.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 July 2026
  • This can help prevent the patient from stumbling across information that’s difficult to understand, potentially upsetting, or just plain irrelevant to their own situation.
    — Nicole Pajer, PEOPLE, 28 July 2026
Definition of stumbling
Verb
  • More news The Arizona Cardinals and their starting quarterback, Jacoby Brissett, had been in a rumbling contract dispute in the early days of training camp.
    — Alex Kirshner, New York Times, 27 July 2026
  • With a favorable 2026 schedule, donors warming up and quarterback Nico Iamaleava on board, UCLA’s football bandwagon is rumbling back to life.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 26 July 2026
Definition of rumbling
Verb
  • Plenty of my friends worked there loading clays; nothing like working in a box in the middle of August, with the sun beating down on a barren landscape, just make gas money and some Friday night jingle.
    — Joe Kinsey OutKick, FOXNews.com, 4 Aug. 2026
  • Still, trading Ray will be another avenue to continue loading a farm system on the rise.
    — Justice delos Santos, Mercury News, 31 July 2026
Definition of loading
Adjective
  • The Dodgers have helped an often-wobbly Roki Sasaki transform into a dominant force in the starting rotation.
    — Mirjam Swanson, Los Angeles Times, 31 July 2026
  • That reflation boost appears wobbly, as much of the price recovery was driven by surging global energy costs, while domestic demand lags, economists say.
    — Anniek Bao, CNBC, 27 July 2026
Definition of wobbly
Adjective
  • Community colleges that want to offer non-credit classes are able to move especially fast, because the approval process is less cumbersome.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 3 Aug. 2026
  • But connecting freight brokers and carriers is cumbersome, despite efforts by Uber Freight and others to use tech solutions to streamline things.
    — Richard Nieva, Forbes.com, 28 July 2026
Definition of cumbersome

Browse Nearby Words

lumberers
lumbering
lumberjack
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Cite this Entry

“Lumbering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lumbering. Accessed 7 Aug. 2026.

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More from Merriam-Webster on lumbering

Nglish: Translation of lumbering for Spanish Speakers

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