What's the difference between clumsy and ungainly?

Clumsy


Definition:

  • (superl.) Stiff or benumbed, as with cold.
  • (superl.) Without skill or grace; wanting dexterity, nimbleness, or readiness; stiff; awkward, as if benumbed; unwieldy; unhandy; hence; ill-made, misshapen, or inappropriate; as, a clumsy person; a clumsy workman; clumsy fingers; a clumsy gesture; a clumsy excuse.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) In both, objective aggravation occurred in three or more steps over four days, progressing from minor finger clumsiness to total paralysis of the arm.
  • (2) Since she was 25-year-old, she had had insomnia which accompanied by choked feelings, palpitations, clumsiness of hands and anxiety.
  • (3) Salmond and his finance secretary, John Swinney, have pushed for Scotland to be given control over corporation tax, excise duties and greater borrowing powers in the new bill, but those measures were rejected as ill thought out and clumsy by the UK government and Labour.
  • (4) The problem is that, whilst severely affected children can be readily recognized, identification of mildly and moderately clumsy children is difficult.
  • (5) Clumsy US tactics and policies exacerbated a deteriorating situation.
  • (6) Several lines from the 1984 song were heavily criticised here and in Africa for being clumsy and patronising, including the one about no rivers flowing in Africa – the continent of the Nile, Congo and Niger.
  • (7) Ethanol impaired performance in most objective tests and produced clumsiness, muzziness, and mental slowness, but little drowsiness.
  • (8) The unfairly maligned camel is a model of sleek, practical and elegant design compared with the clumsy creature the coalition has produced.
  • (9) The arcane wiring when electricity came along, the subsequent clumsy rewiring; the cheap flat conversion in the 1960s; the constant saga of patch and mend from occupants who never have the money or vision to remake the whole thing from scratch - all this, and more, was paralleled on the WCML on an enormous scale.
  • (10) It is difficult to comprehend the logic of expecting improvements in this agenda while withdrawing half a billion dollars in funding to many service agencies, and leaving them poised precariously at the mercy of a clumsy and poorly executed “advancement” strategy.
  • (11) DZ but not O 60 was reported to have caused lethargy and clumsiness during subchronic treatment.
  • (12) A nine year-old girl admitted to our hospital complaining of clumsiness of hands and walking, disability of reading, headache and vomiting.
  • (13) Her main project is new girl Tai (the late Brittany Murphy) who arrives at school as a clumsy, unconfident "ugly duckling" ripe for making over – allowing the film to indulge in that wonderful 80s teen movie trope: the dressing up montage.
  • (14) Clinical syndromes were classified according to Fisher's criteria into pure motor hemiparesis (PM), sensorimotor stroke (SM) and ataxic hemiparesis (AH) including dysarthria clumsy hand syndrome.
  • (15) Observations by parents and teachers rated the clumsy children inferior to their controls in writing, sporting ability and clumsiness.
  • (16) Even if the move seemed dictatorial in the short term, it served to enshrine a constitution that in the long-term actually curtails Morsi's power – which to the Brotherhood makes his actions well-intentioned, if clumsy.
  • (17) The children with learning disabilities were divided into two groups--"clumsy" and "nonclumsy"--based on their scores on the motor impairment test.
  • (18) Fulham were furious in 2012 when Liverpool's attempt to take Clint Dempsey from them saw the Merseyside club deliver clumsy bulletins.
  • (19) Analysis of the data indicated that, as expected, the clumsy children with learning disabilities scored significantly lower than the children without learning disabilities (the control group).
  • (20) Abnormal clumsiness in otherwise normal children has often been associated with both perceptual and motor defects, but the cause of this problem remains unclear.

Ungainly


Definition:

  • (a.) Not gainly; not expert or dexterous; clumsy; awkward; uncouth; as, an ungainly strut in walking.
  • (a.) Unsuitable; unprofitable.
  • (adv.) In an ungainly manner.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Apart from its brightly striped beak, the bird is well-known for its ungainly walk and longevity.
  • (2) The problem is it’s an ugly, ungainly shared experience.
  • (3) The ungainly Chinook (in nature, either a kind of wind or a Native American people) is a particular favourite.
  • (4) This ungainly hulk was miraculously granted permission by Southwark council's planning committee, who described it as "dynamic" and "dramatic", no doubt wooed by the architect's claims that the form was "inspired by the literary heritage" of the borough.
  • (5) The ungainly spectacle of a US state desperately seeking a supply of pharmaceutical in order to kill a man provides a snapshot of the dire condition of the death penalty in many of the 32 states that still practice it.
  • (6) It was often ungainly, and Klinsmann would probably prefer decent defensive anticipation to decent recovery, but for the first 45 Turkey went no closer than a low Caner Erkin shot in the 11th minute that hit the side netting after the USA failed to clear their lines properly from a corner.
  • (7) Womens Wear Daily 's correspondent was more specific, and less charitable – she saw "an ugly, ungainly, overgrown boy with thick glasses, and so horribly shy he couldn't take his eyes off the floor".
  • (8) The Volkswagen emissions scandal explained Read more To British eyes, the way Germany companies are structured looks a bit ungainly.
  • (9) It will no doubt be objected that the sequence of the big machine becomes tedious, and that in construction the film is somewhat ungainly.
  • (10) 7.59pm GMT 14 min: Arsenal can be grateful for Alaba’s honesty: he could easily have gone down just now as Sagna made an ungainly challenge on him in the box but instead the Austrian stayed on his feet and hammered a low cross into the six-yard area, where Arsenal scooped it clear.
  • (11) Rawls was not an especially gifted stylist, and A Theory Of Justice is a long and ungainly book.
  • (12) Guy de Maupassant, the short-story writer, called it a "giant ungainly skeleton ... which just peters out into a ridiculous thin shape like a factory chimney".
  • (13) You write: "Unclothed, truth can be vulnerable, ungainly, shocking.
  • (14) Blackadder Your brain would make a grain of sand look large and ungainly and the part of you that can't be mentioned I am reliably informed by women around the court wouldn't be worth mentioning even if it could be.
  • (15) It is suggested that, due to the importance of this syndrome, it may be an appropriate time to reconsider the use of "mucosal disease virus" to replace the ungainly name "BVDV".