How to Use clumsy in a Sentence

clumsy

adjective
  • I have very clumsy hands and tend to drop things.
  • She made a clumsy attempt at a joke.
  • I'm sorry about spilling your wine—that was very clumsy of me.
  • His clumsy leather shoes didn’t fit him.
    — Literary Hub, 3 Oct. 2025
  • Maggie is a snoop—and a clumsy one.
    — Justin Chang, New Yorker, 3 Oct. 2025
  • These laws are an overreach, a clumsy catch-all.
    — Lance Eliot, Forbes.com, 20 Aug. 2025
  • My body is a lovely, clumsy thing to move through the world in.
    — Olivia Treynor, Vogue, 1 Nov. 2023
  • Some have been suicides; some were drunk or just plain clumsy.
    — John Kass, chicagotribune.com, 7 Sep. 2017
  • The fourth calf happened to be in soft ground, on which a wolf is clumsy.
    — Frank Glaser, Outdoor Life, 1 Apr. 2026
  • There had to be an element of her that was sort of clumsy.
    — Maureen Lee Lenker, Entertainment Weekly, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Even one of the extras notes how clumsy and comic the movie is.
    — Scott Roxborough, The Hollywood Reporter, 13 Dec. 2022
  • Another one of the boys laughed and called him a clumsy d-word.
    — Damon Young, Washington Post, 7 Mar. 2022
  • Coots are rather clumsy in flight and taking off is a challenge.
    — Ernie Cowan, San Diego Union-Tribune, 15 Aug. 2019
  • And this—clumsy segue alert—is one way to pull out of a subscription!
    — Eleanor Pringle, Fortune, 20 June 2024
  • This is a huge bonus for a clumsy gal like myself, who often trips over air.
    — Jacqueline Tempera, People.com, 14 Aug. 2025
  • Tiny, slow and clumsy — these hatchlings are an easy snack for predators.
    — Diaa Hadid, NPR, 5 Sep. 2025
  • My clumsy, blue skis begin to skim the lake, like a sea gull scanning for snacks.
    — Gloria Goodale, The Christian Science Monitor, 3 Oct. 2023
  • This is clumsy but can still make a better base than a tough, thick one that’s rolled out badly.
    — The New York Times News Service Syndicate, The Denver Post, 26 Nov. 2019
  • The results of Sam’s attempts are clumsy and a bit of a mixed bag.
    — Lovia Gyarkye, The Hollywood Reporter, 15 June 2023
  • And there’s a way of doing that that can be clumsy and flattening.
    — Elias Leight, Rolling Stone, 5 Oct. 2021
  • The nonslip silicone base on this carafe is great for the clumsy tea lovers.
    — Sierra Guardiola, Southern Living, 28 Apr. 2021
  • The collapse of the talks wasn’t the fault of bad faith or clumsy diplomacy.
    — Farah N. Jan, The Conversation, 14 Apr. 2026
  • But all in all, yeah, the retirement part was a little clumsy.
    — Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press, 22 July 2019
  • Those rides can be clumsy and filled with hard brakes as the car stops for everything that may be in its path.
    — Johana Bhuiyan, Recode, 7 May 2018
  • This is carbonara for the clumsy, the impatient and the greedy.
    — Eric Kim, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2023
  • If they are broken by clumsy feet, these millennia-old life-forms can die.
    — Simon Willis, Travel + Leisure, 5 Oct. 2025
  • Be careful, be clumsy, run hot, stay cool, be the bull in the China shop.
    — Jolie Lash, EW.com, 16 Sep. 2021
  • Clearly a flair player, though sadly quite clumsy on land.
    — Jacob Whitehead, New York Times, 16 June 2026
  • Humpback whales lack lips, so the calves can be clumsy and on very rare occasions miss some of the milk.
    — Cecilia Rodriguez, Forbes, 28 Nov. 2023
  • Saint Bernards are huge, friendly, and calming but clumsy.
    — Maria Azzurra Volpe, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Nov. 2025

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clumsy.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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