Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of lumpen Yet Empire Falls translates into a lumpen, stodgy miniseries, despite a fine central performance from Harris as a divorced diner owner with deep roots in the town and a structure that allows the past to keep informing and enriching the present. Scott Tobias, Vulture, 14 Apr. 2024 Rhys spent decades, often isolated and paranoid, in lumpen houses and apartments in and out of London, before success arrived late. New York Times, 20 June 2022 Then the judges booted her for wearing a lumpen quilt skirt accessorized with a blow-up-doll boyfriend. Spencer Kornhaber, The Atlantic, 20 Apr. 2022 Tye Sheridan gives a somewhat lumpen performance as the author’s stand-in, an aspiring writer whose family background is funky, to say the least. Globe Staff, BostonGlobe.com, 6 Jan. 2022 The films of Sean Baker celebrate lumpen characters and communities that subsist within the cracks of America’s neoliberal landscape. Erik Morse, Vogue, 10 Dec. 2021 Indeed, the miniatures — lumpen clay armchairs and occasional tables that Valle arranges and rearranges inside shoebox versions of their ultimate destinations — are closer to dollhouse furniture than to showpiece renderings. New York Times, 9 Sep. 2021 Some collectors are leaning further into technology by amassing digital artworks, while other sets of buyers are coping by prizing ceramics, with their fragile, lumpen tactility. Kelly Crow, WSJ, 6 July 2021 Other labels are riffing on the shoe’s lumpen shape, and playing with proportion and puff. Lauren Mechling, Vogue, 30 Mar. 2021
Recent Examples of Synonyms for lumpen
Adjective
  • In late March, due to anxieties over tariffs and inflation, the consumer confidence index fell 7.2 points to 92.9, the fourth straight monthly decline and its lowest reading since January of 2021, according to the Associated Press.
    Thomas G. Moukawsher, MSNBC Newsweek, 25 Apr. 2025
  • Consumer sentiment nosedived in April to the lowest level since the peak of the postpandemic inflation surge as President Trump’s trade battles shake the global economy.
    Tobias Burns, The Hill, 25 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • Understandably, it’s gated off for us, the unwashed masses.
    Geoffrey Morrison, Forbes, 3 Nov. 2024
  • The restaurant was in violation of 12 standards, including unwashed fruit and food stored on the floor.
    Evan Moore, Charlotte Observer, 21 Mar. 2025
Adjective
  • Below that sits the pedestrian CLK 500 and plebeian CLK 350.
    Jeremy Korzeniewski, Robb Report, 26 Feb. 2025
  • Across the lake, on the plebeian side, up the shoreline a mile or so, in the heart of downtown West Palm Beach, stand twin 32-story towers dubbed Trump Plaza of the Palm Beaches.
    Miami Herald Archives, Miami Herald, 8 Jan. 2025
Adjective
  • This match was brimming with goals and officiating controversy, and on the whole, the weekend was a humble reminder to everyone who dared question the chaos quotient in this league: The limit does not exist.
    Emily Olsen, New York Times, 29 Apr. 2025
  • Amidst heated debate about what sneaker will take the Adidas Sambas’ crown for shoe du jour, Richie Grainge offered up the humble Reebok.
    Hannah Jackson, Vogue, 28 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • The comments in screen shots of the chat room were demeaning and vulgar – as were the texts from the anonymous messenger who had sent her the images.
    Yoonjung Seo and Mike Valerio, CNN Money, 25 Apr. 2025
  • Where once was the vulgar, now lies the Vulgate, a common relatable almost religious experience that all at Barclays seemed to feel.
    Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 18 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • There’s an ignoble tradition of falsified memoirs.
    Andrew Silow-Carroll, Sun Sentinel, 11 Mar. 2025
  • Until then, there are the Razzies, an ignoble accolade marking the very worst movies and acting performances of the year.
    Marco della Cava, USA TODAY, 28 Feb. 2025
Adjective
  • Their offense has been nonexistent this season, scoring a measly 2.95 runs per game, which ranks last in the AL and 29th in all of MLB, only ahead of the lowly Rockies.
    Nicholas Creel, MSNBC Newsweek, 18 Apr. 2025
  • The Dubai chocolate craze has moved way past the lowly bar.
    Lisa Gutierrez, Kansas City Star, 17 Apr. 2025
Adjective
  • His radically inferior Black Panther sequel was rewritten in a scramble following the death of star Chadwick Boseman, and its very existence can be seen both as a testament to corporate inertia and a big, forgivable asterisk on an otherwise stellar CV.
    Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 22 Apr. 2025
  • That is often viewed by us profligate, protein-burning, fat-loving energy spendthrifts as an inferior form of metabolism.
    Stephen S. Hall, Time, 21 Apr. 2025

Browse Nearby Words

Cite this Entry

“Lumpen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/lumpen. Accessed 2 May. 2025.

Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!