blooper

American  

[bloo-per] / ˈblu pər /

noun

• bloopers
  plural

1. Informal. an embarrassing or humorous mistake, as one spoken live over a radio or television broadcast or one recorded during the filming of a movie, television show, etc..

   At the end of each season, the cast gathers to watch all the hilarious bloopers that were edited out along the way.

   Synonyms:

   goof, gaffe, slip, blunder, error

2. Radio. a receiving set that generates from its antenna radio-frequency signals that interfere with other nearby receivers.

3. Baseball.

   1. Also called bloop, looper, Texas leaguer. a fly ball that carries just beyond the infield, where it is out of catching range for both the infielders and the outfielders, resulting in a hit for the batter.

   2. Also blooper ball a pitched ball that travels in a high arc before deceptively dropping into the strike zone.

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blooper British  

/ ˈbluːpə /

noun

1. informal a blunder; bloomer; stupid mistake

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• bloopers
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of blooper

First recorded in 1925–30; bloop + -er ¹, originally in reference to a radio receiver that emits bloops

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Explanation

A blooper is a mistake, especially an embarrassing one that's witnessed by other people. Your professor may be famous for his colorful bow ties and his frequent bloopers. You can use the word blooper to describe any gaffe or faux pas that makes you blush. Often films and TV shows will keep a reel of bloopers that were caught on camera — generally mistakes or flubbed lines by actors. The word was first used in the 1940s in the theater world, from US baseball slang, meaning "a high fly ball that an outfielder doesn't catch."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

blooper bloopers

The most notable blooper: “my president” instead of “my husband,” when answering a query about work-life balance.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 18, 2026

But it ends with a blooper shot where Burnham fumbles to catch the helmet and bursts out laughing.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

“I’m going to give you a blooper reel one day,” she says, laughing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

Mike Trout presumably has witnessed every possible blooper, blunder and boo-boo in 16 seasons with the woeful Angels.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026

The psychiatrist who wrote the first blooper presumably intended his second clause to convey a temporal sequence between two events: the patient saw the doctor, and since that time she has been depressed.

From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker

Simms: We really don’t have many bloopers because of the way we shot, that fake-documentary style.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 28, 2025

For MIT engineers, the lunar bloopers also highlight an opportunity to innovate.

From Science Daily ● May 15, 2024

I'm on the comedy committee and we decided to put together a bloopers reel of the first week.

From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2023

But, Frazier said, bloopers are just part of the game too.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 13, 2022

It was a collection of sports bloopers, and guess who they saved for last.

From "Tangerine" by Edward Bloor

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Related Words

• gaffe

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