cumbersome

adj

Etymology: From Middle English cumbyrsum, cummyrsum; equivalent to cumber (“hindrance”) + -some. Compare encumber and incumbent.

1. Burdensome or hindering, as if a weight or drag; vexatious.

   “"You can throw off your cumbersome disguise here," said Lucy, though the words could scarcely be distinguished, from her excessive agitation, Evelyn hastily caught up a cloak and cap laid ready for him, and a few minutes brought them into the sitting-room.”

2. Not easily managed or handled; awkward; clumsy.

   “Cumbersome machines can endanger operators and slow down production.”

   “The full title of the unified system, the South Eastern & London, Chatham & Dover Railways, was decidedly cumbersome, and for the sake of convenience was shortened to the South Eastern & Chatham Railway.”

3. Hard, difficult, demanding to handle or get around with.

   “A slave’s work was as cumbersome as toiling on the fields, or in the mines.”

4. Inert, lumbering, slow in movement.