1
as in shambling
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Dissimilar Words
2
as in plodding
Related Words
Dissimilar Words
1
as in shuffling
to move heavily or clumsily
the elephant lumbered through the jungle
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
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
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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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of lumbering
Julia Poe, Chicago Tribune, 7 Jan. 2026
There’s also a massive leg lumbering in the distance which could be a Sentinel, the gigantic, mutant-hunting robots that are some of X-Men’s most iconic villains.
—Jordan Moreau, Variety, 6 Jan. 2026
The mood in Russia is hard to gauge – criticizing the military can land a person in jail – and the economy keeps lumbering along, despite slowing growth and a Ukrainian campaign of strikes on Russian energy infrastructure, the cornerstone of Moscow’s economic power.
—Nathan Hodge, CNN Money, 31 Dec. 2025
The contrast of a fast-dancing binary and a distant, lumbering giant poses a lingering mystery of how such a massive planet formed and survived in such a dynamically complex system.
—Sharmila Kuthunur, Space.com, 26 Dec. 2025
The dub veterans bring out the best in each other with a collaborative album that balances lumbering doom with spacey ambience.
—Andrew Ryce, Pitchfork, 22 Dec. 2025
The Guardian’s Jesse Hassenger says the film can’t even transition between scenes with anything but the lumbering clunkiness of a pizza restaurant robot.
—Bethy Squires, Vulture, 6 Dec. 2025
The zebras pranced, all frisky energy; the elephants, lumbering and mournful, trailed behind with their ancient thoughts.
—AFAR Media, 30 Oct. 2025
Almost every song is a lumbering beast so thoroughly composed of bits and pieces from the very best of the entire British popular music tradition as to make each feel inevitable, and the intensity doesn’t let up much until the final track.
—Jesse Adams, The Washington Examiner, 19 Sep. 2025
Verb
The Celtics pounded the paint with Neemias Queta and Luka Garza, a pair of bruising bigs who also can force the issue from 3-point range despite their lumbering dispositions.
—Recent Examples of Synonyms for lumbering
Adjective
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These movies—including the seven-hour-long Sátántangó, a centerpiece of which is a shambling dance in a barroom—often swap the meandering sentence for a single camera shot that lasts 10 minutes or more.—
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Once the beyond-the-grave comeuppance arrives, this short is just standard shambling ghouls and raining blood.—
Adjective
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But the small lineup has helped with spacing, creating more driving lanes for Dent while also allowing Bilodeau to beat more plodding counterparts on offense.—
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Wisconsin was one of the nation’s most plodding teams under former coach Bo Ryan and continued that way under former assistant Greg Gard, as recently as two seasons ago ranking in the 300s in Division I in tempo.—
Verb
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Go on a street food tour Street food tours are great things to do in Sicily and a fabulous alternative to hours of shuffling through museums.—
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It's designed to offer a satisfying and calming shuffling motion, guided by a strong magnet and a seamless sliding track on the inside.—
Verb
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The Packers are stumbling coming into the playoff with four straight losses, two of them via absolute giveaways.—
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Government agencies and businesses that invest in this training, and that insist every critical number survives a deterministic check, will capture AI's benefits without stumbling into its blind spots.—
Verb
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Cellos and basses may be rumbling along on a frighteningly low melody, as the woodwinds are pecking like a riot in a chicken coop, while the high strings are sustaining a cluster of odd, disconcerting notes.—
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Our different skin shades and our proximity on a rumbling train car was also very New York.—
Verb
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The container is insulated and protected from weather and palletized for easy transport using a forklift for loading onto vehicles or aircraft.—
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There might also be loading instructions in the machine’s manual.—
Adjective
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The result feels like a cavalier stunt—an audio-documentary shrine erected on a wobbly visual-narrative foundation.—
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Kentucky’s wobbly path to the NCAA Tournament just got a whole lot more uncertain.—
Adjective
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Others utilize passive mechanical structures that are often cumbersome and can’t shift shape in real time.—
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Bleach solutions also work but are more cumbersome and require a several-minute soak time.—
Cite this Entry
“Lumbering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lumbering. Accessed 20 Jan. 2026.
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