different between cumbersome vs hulking

English

Etymology

cumber (“hindrance”) +? -some.

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /?k?mb?s?m/

Adjective

cumbersome (comparative more cumbersome, superlative most cumbersome)

1. Burdensome or hindering, as a weight or drag; vexatious
2. Not easily managed or handled; awkward; clumsy.

   Cumbersome machines can endanger operators and slow down production.

3. Hard, difficult, demanding to handle or get around with.

   A slaves' work was as cumbersome as toiling on the fields, or in the mines.

4. Inert, lumbering, slow in movement

Synonyms

• See also Thesaurus:difficult

Derived terms

• cumbersomely
• cumbersomeness

Synonyms

• cumbrous
• unwieldy

Translations

English

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?h?lk??/

Adjective

hulking (not comparable)

1. Large and bulky, heavily built; massive.
   • 2001, Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl, page 212:

     A hulking shape burst through the doorway and hurtled down the corridor, leaving a maelstrom of air currents in his wake.

2. Unwieldy.

Translations

Noun

hulking (plural hulkings)

1. A kind of sloping embankment used as a coastal defence.
   • 1953, The Institution of Civil Engineers, Proceedings (volume 2, part 2, page 513)

     The sand-hills have permanently disappeared from many parts of the coast and have been replaced by clay embankments, timber hulkings, and, during the pre-war years, by mass-concrete stepwork.

Related terms

• hulk

Verb

hulking

1. present participle of hulk