bungle
Plural: bungles
Noun
- an embarrassing mistake
- A botched or incompetently handled action or situation; a blunder.
Verb
Verb Forms: bungled, bungling, bungles
- To act or perform clumsily; to make a mess of something.
- make a mess of, destroy or ruin
- spoil by behaving clumsily or foolishly
- "I bungled it!"
- To incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action; to botch up, to bumble.
- To act or work incompetently; to fumble.
Examples
- He was sure to BUNGLE the game if he didn’t pay closer attention to his opponent’s moves.
Origin / Etymology
The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is either:
* onomatopoeic in origin (compare bumble (“to act in an inept, clumsy or inexpert manner; to make mistakes”), fumble (“to grope awkwardly in trying to find something; to blunder uncertainly”)); or
* from Old Norse; compare Old Swedish bunga (“to strike”), and dialectal Swedish bangla (“to work ineffectually”).
The noun is derived from the verb.
Cognates
* German Bengel (“cudgel; rude fellow”)
* Middle High German bungen (“to hammer”)
Synonyms
ball up, bloomer, blooper, blow, blunder, bobble, bodge, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, boner, boo-boo, botch, botch up, bumble, flub, fluff, foul up, foul-up, fuck up, fuckup, fumble, louse up, mess up, mishandle, muck up, muff, pratfall, screw up, spoil, blight, bugger up, bungle, crab, dirty, disrupt, disturb, jack up, mar, mommick, muddle, pollute, put a crimp in, queer, ruin, sour, stain, turn upside down, undo, upset, upset the applecart, vitiate
Scrabble Score: 9
bungle: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordbungle: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
bungle: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary