How to Use clunky in a Sentence

clunky

adjective
  • His act was full of clunky one-liners.
  • I drive a clunky old station wagon.
  • This is not some clunky virus from years ago.
    — Kurt Knutsson, FOXNews.com, 23 Feb. 2026
  • The clunky start kept them off-balance.
    — Nick Kosmider, New York Times, 6 Oct. 2025
  • On their own, the moves felt a little clunky.
    — PC Magazine, 25 Aug. 2025
  • Aside from a clunky product name, this light earned high marks.
    — Lisa Jhung, Outside Online, 2 Nov. 2024
  • The inter- face was clunky and old, with a single search bar.
    — Ew Staff, EW.com, 27 Apr. 2021
  • But what if the offense still looks clunky at the end of the month?
    — Karen Guregian, Hartford Courant, 8 Aug. 2022
  • Most space heaters are clunky and brown, with a weird netting across the front.
    — Kaitlin Menza, House Beautiful, 1 Feb. 2019
  • That’s all fair enough, but, wow, is this clunky show on the nose with all that stuff.
    — Chris Jones, New York Daily News, 13 Feb. 2025
  • Too bad the moment got wasted with such a clunky sketch.
    — Rob Sheffield, Rolling Stone, 16 Mar. 2026
  • Now the code is still flaky and the interfaces are very clunky.
    — Michelle Delio, WIRED, 27 July 2000
  • Still, the result is something just as clunky.
    — Michael Schneider, Variety, 26 May 2026
  • Some felt the upper was a bit clunky, not molding well to the foot.
    — Jonathan Beverly, Outside Online, 22 Apr. 2021
  • Probably a bit clunky, niche, and maybe even toy-like at first.
    — Christian Catalini, Forbes, 19 Feb. 2024
  • The best aspect to my very clunky game was the turnaround jumper in the post.
    — Charles Curtis, For The Win, 8 June 2018
  • If these clunky, crumbly, gluten-free cookies didn’t taste so good, this would be a fail.
    — Jolene Thym, The Mercury News, 8 June 2019
  • Plus, the unattached back piece looks clunky, and the tongue doesn’t read.
    — Jason P. Frank, Vulture, 17 Jan. 2026
  • Some of the plot points feel a little clunky; a few of the monologues get preachy.
    — Margaret Gray, latimes.com, 13 Mar. 2018
  • Tapes like this can be clunky to hold, with loose blades that are difficult to read.
    — Stuart Deutsch, Popular Mechanics, 7 Apr. 2010
  • Most of them, though, still had not been able to free themselves from clunky keyboards.
    — Jing Tsu, Wired, 23 Jan. 2022
  • And Gordon adds that the overall look is thick and clunky.
    — Sarah Lyon, The Spruce, 20 Feb. 2026
  • Precise and clunky and exactly what the movie is at the same time.
    — Carrie Wittmer, Vulture, 4 Mar. 2025
  • For e-boards, many of which are large and clunky, that’s a game-changer in terms of an e-board.
    — Zane Pickett, Forbes, 12 Aug. 2022
  • The phone is impressively slim as a tablet, but clunky as a phone.
    — Lisa Eadicicco, CNN Money, 5 Jan. 2026
  • Supportive no longer means clunky.
    — Chaise Sanders, Travel + Leisure, 8 Feb. 2026
  • Likewise, the system for cinching the sides is a bit clunky.
    — Ian Graber-Stiehl, Outside, 5 Dec. 2025
  • The interface, on the other hand, is a bit clunky.
    — PC Magazine, 23 Nov. 2025
  • Gone are the days of lugging a clunky vacuum around the house to do your chores.
    — Clara McMahon, People.com, 24 Aug. 2025
  • The poster boys for pace-and-space were suddenly clunky and crowded.
    — Ben Golliver, SI.com, 23 May 2018

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'clunky.' 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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