BUNGLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does bungle mean? 

• BUNGLE (noun)
  The noun BUNGLE has 1 sense:

1. an embarrassing mistake

  Familiarity information: BUNGLE used as a noun is very rare.

• BUNGLE (verb)
  The verb BUNGLE has 2 senses:

1. make a mess of, destroy or ruin

2. spoil by behaving clumsily or foolishly

  Familiarity information: BUNGLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• BUNGLE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An embarrassing mistake

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

bloomer; blooper; blunder; boner; boo-boo; botch; bungle; flub; foul-up; fuckup; pratfall

Hypernyms ("bungle" is a kind of...):

error; fault; mistake (a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "bungle"):

bobble (the momentary juggling of a batted or thrown baseball)

snafu (an acronym often used by soldiers in World War II: situation normal all fucked up)

spectacle (a blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase 'make a spectacle of' yourself)

bull (a serious and ludicrous blunder)

fumble; muff ((sports) dropping the ball)

fluff (a blunder (especially an actor's forgetting the lines))

faux pas; gaffe; gaucherie; slip; solecism (a socially awkward or tactless act)

howler (a glaring blunder)

clanger (a conspicuous mistake whose effects seem to reverberate)

misstep; stumble; trip; trip-up (an unintentional but embarrassing blunder)

Derivation:

bungle (spoil by behaving clumsily or foolishly)

bungle (make a mess of, destroy or ruin)

• BUNGLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they bungle    ... he / she / it bungles   
Past simple: bungled   
Past participle: bungled   
-ing form: bungling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Make a mess of, destroy or ruin

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Synonyms:

ball up; blow; bobble; bodge; bollix; bollix up; bollocks; bollocks up; botch; botch up; bumble; bungle; flub; fluff; foul up; fuck up; fumble; louse up; mess up; mishandle; muck up; muff; screw up; spoil

Context example:

the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement

Hypernyms (to "bungle" is one way to...):

fail; go wrong; miscarry (be unsuccessful)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

bungle (an embarrassing mistake)

bungler (someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Spoil by behaving clumsily or foolishly

Classified under:

Verbs of grooming, dressing and bodily care

Context example:

I bungled it!

Hypernyms (to "bungle" is one way to...):

act; behave; do (behave in a certain manner; show a certain behavior; conduct or comport oneself)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Derivation:

bungle (an embarrassing mistake)

bungler (someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence)

 Context examples 

“That's your seven hundred thousand pounds, is it? You're the man for bargains, ain't you? You're him that never bungled nothing, you wooden-headed lubber!”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

He was warm, and bungling of speech, and very happy, as he replied to her, and there was dancing in his mind, throughout the telephone conversation, the memory of Browning and of sickly Elizabeth Barrett.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

By gum, if you could understand how bad it's bungled, you would see!

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

You say this cruise is bungled.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

“We'll all swing and sun-dry for your bungling.”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)