1
as in shambling
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Dissimilar Words
2
as in plodding
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
1
as in shuffling
to move heavily or clumsily
the elephant lumbered through the jungle
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in stumbling
to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually
the novel's plot lumbers to its predictable conclusion after 500 long pages
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
3
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
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Recent Examples of lumbering
Literary Hub,
8 June 2026
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
Ahead, a wildlife expert shares effective ways to deter these lumbering visitors.
—
Michelle Mastro,
Martha Stewart,
13 June 2026
However these timelines have generally been regarded as aggressive by space industry experts, who are more accustomed to NASA moving at a lumbering pace.
—
Eric Berger,
ArsTechnica,
9 June 2026
Large parts of its war effort are now unmanned, the robots, drones, and remotely piloted tanks giving it a sudden, albeit fragile, edge over a lumbering and strained Russian invader.
—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
30 May 2026
Dunk is the lumbering Hedge Knight hero of this series, Ser Duncan the Tall, played by former rugby player Peter Claffey, while Egg is his wise-beyond-his-years bald young squire (Dexter Sol Ansell).
—
Anne Thompson,
IndieWire,
28 May 2026
Nesting involves lumbering ashore and laying eggs in the sand, and that ritual forces the slow-moving turtles to dodge speeding boats and jet skis.
—
Mark Price,
Charlotte Observer,
24 May 2026
The giant sulcata tortoise came lumbering down a suburban Phoenix street one recent spring evening.
—
Alina Hartounian,
NPR,
18 May 2026
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
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
Ahead, a wildlife expert shares effective ways to deter these lumbering visitors.
—
Michelle Mastro,
Martha Stewart,
13 June 2026
However these timelines have generally been regarded as aggressive by space industry experts, who are more accustomed to NASA moving at a lumbering pace.
—
Eric Berger,
ArsTechnica,
9 June 2026
Large parts of its war effort are now unmanned, the robots, drones, and remotely piloted tanks giving it a sudden, albeit fragile, edge over a lumbering and strained Russian invader.
—
Nick Paton Walsh,
CNN Money,
30 May 2026
Dunk is the lumbering Hedge Knight hero of this series, Ser Duncan the Tall, played by former rugby player Peter Claffey, while Egg is his wise-beyond-his-years bald young squire (Dexter Sol Ansell).
—
Anne Thompson,
IndieWire,
28 May 2026
Nesting involves lumbering ashore and laying eggs in the sand, and that ritual forces the slow-moving turtles to dodge speeding boats and jet skis.
—
Mark Price,
Charlotte Observer,
24 May 2026
The giant sulcata tortoise came lumbering down a suburban Phoenix street one recent spring evening.
—
Alina Hartounian,
NPR,
18 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lumbering
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.
-
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’).
Adjective
-
Brunson was too small (6-foot-2), not long enough (with a 6-foot-4 wingspan) and too plodding.
-
Neither is known for having much of an off-the-dribble game that could hurt the plodding Porzingis or Horford.
Verb
-
In an era of digital overwhelm and social isolation, gathering around a table, shuffling tiles and building order out of chaos together feels like exactly what people are reaching for right now.
-
The model of shuffling that the new result depends on, like Bayer and Diaconis’ before it, still assumes that the cards riffle down one by one, rather than in clumps.
Verb
-
Gane finished off Pereira in the second round to win the title on Sunday after sending him stumbling with a right jab followed by a hammer fist.
-
But stumbling into a town with a visual landscape that still shows Guedes' thumbprint was a delight.
Verb
-
Early on, Jonah couldn't be indoors during rumbling Florida thunderstorms because the noise reminded Jonah of the collapse, so father and son would take long drives until the storm subsided.
-
Bored Lord and AceMo, longtime bastions of their respective coastal scenes, offer up two rumbling club heaters.
Verb
-
Charles Brooks admitted to retrieving and loading a handgun and chambering a round before trying to separate the two women, the news release stated.
-
The same rumors that started last summer about schools loading up on transfers are circulating again this summer.
Adjective
-
Basic, an obscure album of oddball electronic rhythms and supremely wobbly guitar released in 1984 by Lou Reed collaborators Robert Quine and Fred Maher.
-
On March 4, the walls of a Travis County courtroom in Austin felt wobbly with grief.
Adjective
-
And though there are no tariffs imposed on British goods entering the EU, there is a raft of non-tariff barriers, such as cumbersome customs paperwork, border certifications, and visa restrictions.
-
With a Brush Head Heavy electric vacuums can be extremely cumbersome to use on furniture, and their handy attachments often don’t cover enough fabric at a time.
Cite this Entry
“Lumbering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lumbering. Accessed 27 Jun. 2026.
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