blunder
Americannoun
-
blunders
plural
verb (used without object)
-
blunders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blundered,
past participle, past
-
blundering
present participle
-
to move or act blindly, stupidly, or without direction or steady guidance.
Without my glasses I blundered into the wrong room.
-
to make a gross or stupid mistake, especially through carelessness or mental confusion.
Just pray that he doesn't blunder again and get the names wrong.
verb (used with object)
-
blunders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blundered,
past participle, past
-
blundering
present participle
-
to bungle; botch.
Several of the accounts were blundered by that new assistant.
-
to utter thoughtlessly; blurt out.
He blundered his surprise at their winning the award.
noun
-
a stupid or clumsy mistake
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a foolish tactless remark
verb
-
to make stupid or clumsy mistakes
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to make foolish tactless remarks
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to act clumsily; stumble
he blundered into a situation he knew nothing about
-
(tr) to mismanage; botch
Synonym Usage
See mistake.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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blunderernoun
-
blunderingnoun
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superblundernoun
-
outblunderverb (used with object)
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nonblunderingadjective
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unblunderingadjective
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blunderinglyadverb
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nonblunderinglyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
blundersimple
-
blunderssimple
-
have blunderedperfect
-
has blunderedperfect
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am blunderingprogressive
-
are blunderingprogressive
-
is blunderingprogressive
-
have been blunderingperfect progressive
-
has been blunderingperfect progressive
Past
-
blunderedsimple
-
had blunderedperfect
-
was blunderingprogressive
-
were blunderingprogressive
-
had been blunderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of blunder
First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English blunderen, blondren (verb), from Old Norse blunda “to shut one's eyes, nap”; compare Norwegian dialect blundra
Explanation
A blunder is an embarrassing mistake. Accidentally called your new boyfriend by your old boyfriend's name? Ouch. That's a blunder you don't want to repeat. Has an embarrassing mistake ever made you feel like you’re stumbling around with your eyes closed? If so, it won’t surprise you to learn that blunder comes from the Old Norse word blundra, meaning to “shut one's eyes.” It wasn’t until the eighteenth century that blunder came to refer to a stupid or embarrassing mistake, or as a verb, to describe making such a mistake, as in “I tend to blunder when I'm nervous.”
Vocabulary lists containing blunder
"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant
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100 SAT Words Beginning with "B"
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English Words Derived from Old Norse
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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.
See Examples For:
Instead of owning the blunder, Schmitt doubled down.
From Salon ● Oct. 1, 2026
The Ravens got an emotional boost with their win off the Cowboys’ blunder, though they shouldn’t have lost to the Saints in Week 2.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2026
To state the obvious, Manning’s blunder is not in the area code of French’s tweet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 17, 2026
A subsequent independent report, external into the incident said the blunder was the result of "inadequate systems and processes" rather than deliberate wrongdoing.
From BBC ● Sep. 9, 2026
And then there is “faux pas,” which is an embarrassing blunder or lapse of good manners.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
There were diplomatic blunders, transport errors and accommodation chaos.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
In the process, said current and former employees and investors interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, the highflying company has struggled with compliance failures, legal challenges and software blunders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026
There were mighty blunders off the field too under Jarmond, including an email that went out to donors that came with an attachment revealing personal information and spending tallies of the department’s biggest donors.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
Judge Linda Kevins of New York State's Supreme Court warned in a January ruling that such blunders wasted the time and money of both the opposing party and the court.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
I bring up McCandless’s hubris and the dumb mistakes he made—the two or three readily avoidable blunders that ended up costing him his life.
From "Into the Wild" by Jon Krakauer
Instead, the Eagles had to kickoff with eight seconds to go, and they blundered again.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 12, 2026
"It should have been drawn, but Ding blundered as the pressure grew."
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 2024
Further, prosecutors blundered in January 2023 by adding a “gun enhancement” when filing involuntary manslaughter charges against Baldwin and Gutierrez Reed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2024
Addressing some 100 C.I.A. officials on March 19, Mr. Burns acknowledged how the agency catastrophically blundered in its assessment that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction.
From New York Times ● May 9, 2023
“Yes, but you are too busy. I am too stupid to learn,” I blundered out, as red as a peony.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
At the 1994 tournament in Linares, Spain, Mr. Kasparov—as the camera later showed—made a blundering move, let go of the piece, changed his mind and moved it back.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 5, 2026
“It’s true that by blundering about we stumbled on gold, but the fact remains that we were looking for gold.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 7, 2025
Naive, blundering hobbyists and reckless pranksters can also veer into restricted airspace, setting off alarms and potentially shutting down airport traffic.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2025
Steve Carell, the screen actor best known for his breakout role as a blundering boss in the NBC comedy “The Office,” will make his Broadway debut in a revival of the Chekhov classic “Uncle Vanya.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 14, 2023
Now Dimple could focus on not blundering the steps and falling off the stage.
From "When Dimple Met Rishi" by Sandhya Menon
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
