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Cumbersome as a noun ? Alternative ?

Kone3Glace
French native speaker, I'm taking English course at University and we learn everyweek a lot of vocabulary. Sometimes it's basic so I always try to search a bit more on some term or theme I like. This week, we had cumbersome in our list, and the french translation is "encombrant". I have no problem with that but in french, this adjective can kinda be a plural nouns too: "les encombrants" and then it means bulky or really big and cumbersome furniture (waste) that need special service to be taken away. I asked my professor if English had any equivalent / noun but he was unsure (he is also a french native speaker). So any word for that specifically ? Even if it's slang ? If not, how do you call it ? TLDR : Do you have a word for big / cumbersome item wich, because of their volume, are not collected by usual watse service ? Can 'cumbersome' be a noun ?

11 comments

Nevev•
Cumbersome can't ever be a noun. The closest you'll get to a noun with the same root that I can think of is the pretty formal word "encumbrance".
stink3rb3lle•
In the garbage context I'd call that "solid waste" or an outsized/oversized item. My city will collect one such item per week if you label it "for solid waste." (Sometimes they have to come back for special service, so don't actually try to dispose of something every week please).
amazzan•
American, informal: "a clunker." it's usually used to describe a big junky car, but can also be used for any kind of old clunky thing. it can also refer to a bad joke. "that was a real clunker."
Sepa-Kingdom•
Encumbrances are things which are physically or mentally attached to you which cause annoyance. It’s not in common use, but you might come across it in older books, I guess.
SnooDonuts6494•
I'd probably say it was bulky, awkward, or oversized. Cumbersome is a great word, but uncommon.
JenniferJuniper6•
Since this is the English learning sub and your question has already been answered, I’ll just point out that your first sentence should be: I’m taking *an* English course at University, and *every week* we learn a lot of vocabulary. (You might see *everyday* as one word, but in that case it’s an adjective meaning something that’s just normal, or roughly “quotidien.” As an adverb, it’s always supposed to be two words.)
Mewlies•
Adjective where I was from.
Bunnytob•
I know that other people have already replied, but I don't see why you couldn't use "cumbersomes" as a noun, - it'd just mean 'cumbersome things', in the same vein as, say, "yellows" or "talls". In terms of the specific use you suggested... it makes sense, and I could absolutely see "cumbersomes" having that meaning, but it's not a meaning I'm aware of, nor one I've seen used. I'd imagine that items bulky (or cumbersome!) enough to need special service to be taken away would be referred to as just that - items too big to be taken away by normal services.
kstaxx•
It’s a little bit like how in French “Les misérables” makes sense as a plural noun, but in English we would never say “the miserables” we’d probably say “the miserable people” or “the misfortunate” or something like that. I can’t think of many instances where an adjective can be used as a plural noun in English.
Agreeable-Fee6850•
A noun phrase: bulky waste (item[s]).
c8bb8ge•
Encumbrance is the closest noun to cumbersome, though it means something that is cumbersome rather than specifically waste furniture.