FUMBLING

bungling, clumsy, fumbling, incompetent

(adjective) showing lack of skill or aptitude; ā€œa bungling workmanā€; ā€œdid a clumsy jobā€; ā€œhis fumbling attempt to put up a shelfā€

Source: WordNet® 3.1


Verb

fumbling

present participle of fumble

Noun

fumbling (plural fumblings)

An instance of clumsiness, especially of the hands or fingers.

Source: Wiktionary


FUMBLE

Fum"ble, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Fumbled; p. pr. & vb. n. Fumbling.] Etym: [Akin to D. fommelen to crumple, fumble, Sw. fumla to fusuble, famla to grope, Dan. famle to grope, fumble, Icel. falme, AS. folm palm of the hand. See Feel, and cf. Fanble, Palm.]

1. To feel or grope about; to make awkward attempts to do or find something. Adams now began to fumble in his pockets. Fielding.

2. To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly; as, to fumble for an excuse. Dryden. My understanding flutters and my memory fumbles. Chesterfield. Alas! how he fumbles about the domains. Wordsworth.

3. To handle much; to play childishly; to turn over and over. I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers. Shak.

Fum"ble, v. t.

Definition: To handle or manage awkwardly; to crowd or tumble together. Shak.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

22 February 2025

ANALYSIS

(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ā€˜the father of the brideā€™ instead of ā€˜the brideā€™s fatherā€™


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, on 25 September 2016, the Birla Institute of Management Technology (India) in Uttar Pradesh, India, constructed the largest coffee cups pyramid consisting of 23,821 cups. They used paper takeaway coffee cups to build the pyramid.

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