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
And while Brooks Falls offers a front-row seat to their annual salmon feast, bears turn up throughout the park—digging for clams on windswept beaches, lumbering across open tundra, and prowling the banks of remote rivers. — Bailey Berg, Travel + Leisure, 1 Aug. 2026 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
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
  • Bennie Liebenberg, a former geologist at the mine who was serving as our guide, has the plodding, slightly wide-eyed manner of someone who has spent a lot of time underground.
    — James Dinneen, New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2026
  • 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
Definition of plodding
Verb
  • Summary The Chicago Cubs are currently shuffling their infield due to Dansby Swanson's oblique injury, moving Nico Hoerner to shortstop and Pedro Ramírez to second base.
    — Peter Chawaga, Forbes.com, 21 Aug. 2026
  • Keeping your eye on Bredeson is as hard as tracking a ball beneath shuffling cups.
    — Alec Lewis, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of shuffling
Verb
  • The teddy bears, the stumbling answers, the whole morning in the Cotillion was a mess.
    — Noah Shachtman, Vanity Fair, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Calhoun, who moved to Kansas City from Ames, Iowa, in 2016, started photography during the pandemic after stumbling across a photography video on YouTube.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of stumbling
Verb
  • But Gareth Fry’s thundering, rumbling sound design too often oversells the suspense.
    — Frank Rizzo, Variety, 26 Aug. 2026
  • Kraft made a one-handed grab over Keisean Nixon about 15 yards downfield, then kept rumbling for a 46-yard touchdown.
    — Rob Reischel, Forbes.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of rumbling
Verb
  • Writer Cassie Hurwitz tracked down the best moving companies, professional packers, and tips for loading everything into your new home.
    — Cassie Hurwitz, Curbed, 25 Aug. 2026
  • After loading the AliExpress homepage, audio from his phone stopped playing over his multipoint headphones, which accept connections from more than one device at a time.
    — Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of loading
Adjective
  • By the spring of 2023, Billy Ray Corbin had lost more than 15 percent of his body weight and was woozy and wobbly on his feet.
    — Carol Marbin Miller, Miami Herald, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Then came a series defeat against the Pittsburgh Pirates, with two home run balls against Kenley Jansen in the ninth of the series finale serving as another microcosm of Detroit’s wobbly season.
    — Cody Stavenhagen, New York Times, 25 Aug. 2026
Definition of wobbly
Adjective
  • Another important implication is that once a country is removed from the State Department list, getting it back on is bureaucratically cumbersome.
    — Jason M. Blazakis, The Conversation, 27 Aug. 2026
  • Fall decor that is too cluttered, sharp, or cumbersome is often to blame.
    — Stephanie Osmanski, Better Homes & Gardens, 27 Aug. 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 2 Sep. 2026.

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