bungle
Americanverb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
noun
-
a bungling performance.
-
that which has been done clumsily or inadequately.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
have bungledperfect
-
has bungledperfect 3rd person singular
-
has been bunglingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is bunglingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am bunglingprogressive 1st person singular
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are bunglingprogressive
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bunglessingular 3rd person
-
bunglingparticiple
-
have been bunglingperfect progressive
Past
-
had bungledperfect
-
was bunglingprogressive singular
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were bunglingprogressive plural
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had been bunglingperfect progressive
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bungledparticiple
-
bungledsimple
Future
Etymology
Origin of bungle
First recorded in 1520–30; of uncertain origin
Explanation
Saying the wrong thing at the wrong time, dropping something, tripping and falling: these are some classic bungles — and they’re always embarrassing. Bungles are bummers, it’s true. Ever said something awkward in front of a grandparent or dropped a cake on someone’s lap? Those are bungles — accidents that make you blush. Bungle can also be used as a verb when someone acts like a fool or simply messes everything up, as in “The teacher bungled her lecture because she left her notes at home,” or “My bungling dad fell into the punch bowl. Again.”
Vocabulary lists containing bungle
And Then There Were None
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The Things They Carried
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Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Olympic bosses, who never met an issue they couldn’t bungle, fretted about precedent.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026
Add the examples from psychology and the bungle we're making of the Earth we "manage," and humans don't have good evidence to put ourselves at the top of some kind of evolutionary hierarchy after all.
From Salon • May 29, 2025
Do we have it in our power to choose comedy over catastrophe and thereby give ourselves another day to bungle along?
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 6, 2023
A confirmed bungle could call into question EPO test results dating back decades, Dr Ordway tells the BBC.
From BBC • Apr. 5, 2023
What worried her most was not so much putting the powder into Dragon’s bowl, but the fear that at the last minute she might lose her nerve and bungle it somehow.
From "Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH" by Robert C. O'Brien
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
