unmanageable
/ʌn'mænidʤəbl/
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Difficult or impossible to control, direct, or administer: Describes a person, animal, situation, or thing that resists guidance, discipline, or management.
- Difficult to use or handle due to physical properties: Describes an object that is awkward, cumbersome, or unwieldy because of its size, weight, or shape.
Usage Examples
- Describing a person or behavior:
- The toddler became completely unmanageable after missing his nap.
- Her unmanageable temper often got her into trouble.
- Describing a situation:
- The project's budget grew into an unmanageable sum.
- The crisis quickly spiraled into an unmanageable state.
- Describing an object:
- The sofa was too unmanageable to fit through the narrow doorway.
- He struggled with the unmanageable pile of paperwork on his desk.
Advanced Usage
- In a technical or business context: Often used to describe data, debt, or processes that have become too complex or large to handle effectively.
- The dataset was so large it became unmanageable for our current software.
- The company took on unmanageable levels of debt.
Variants and Related Words
- Unmanageably (adverb): In a manner that is impossible to manage.
- The costs have risen unmanageably high.
- Manageable (adjective): The direct antonym, meaning able to be controlled or handled.
- We broke the large task into manageable parts.
Synonyms
- Uncontrollable: Impossible to control or restrain (often for forces, emotions, or situations).
- Unruly: Disorderly and disruptive (often for people or crowds).
- Intractable: Hard to control or deal with; stubborn.
- Unwieldy: Difficult to carry or move because of size, shape, or weight (primarily for objects).
Antonyms
- Manageable
- Controllable
- Docile (for people/animals)
- Tractable
Related Phrases
- To become/grow unmanageable: To develop into a state that is impossible to control.
- The weeds in the garden have become unmanageable.
- An unmanageable burden: A responsibility or load that is too heavy to bear or administer.
- Caring for her sick parent while working full-time was an unmanageable burden.
Adjective
- incapable of being controlled or managed
- uncontrollable children
- an uncorrectable habit
- difficult to solve or alleviate
- uncontrollable pain
- hard to control
- a difficult child, an unmanageable situation
- difficult to use or handle or manage because of size or weight or shape
- we set about towing the unwieldy structure into the shelter
- almost dropped the unwieldy parcel