Meaning & use

lumbering

adjective·Advanced

Moving in a slow, heavy, and clumsy way, as if the body is too large or awkward to move gracefully.

See it in a sentence

The lumbering old truck struggled to climb the steep mountain road.

A lumbering bear ambled across the campsite in search of food.

A note on using this word

Lumbering describes movement, while the related verb refers to the logging industry, as in cutting and preparing timber.

Words with a similar meaning

clumsyplodding

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

Another way to use it

2. verb

Cutting down trees and preparing the wood for use as timber.

His grandfather spent decades lumbering in the forests of the Pacific Northwest.

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