blunder
Americannoun
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blunders
plural
verb (used without object)
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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
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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
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(tr) to mismanage; botch
Synonym Usage
See mistake.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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blunderernoun
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blunderingnoun
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superblundernoun
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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
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blunderssimple
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have blunderedperfect
-
has blunderedperfect
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am blunderingprogressive
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are blunderingprogressive
-
is blunderingprogressive
-
have been blunderingperfect progressive
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has been blunderingperfect progressive
Past
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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:
The front page of the Daily Star carries a number of spoilers from the first episode of the new series of The Celebrity Traitors, declaring that it contains the "biggest ever show blunder".
From BBC ● Oct. 1, 2026
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
Now, the Minnesota Vikings are betting that when it comes to Kyler Murray, one team’s potential blunder could be another team’s bargain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 4, 2026
“I got Oppenheimer that job in the first place,” he complained, as though Oppie’s blunder reflected poorly on his own judgment.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
In so holding, Justice Horace Gray committed three major blunders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 1, 2026
A horrific crime turned into a national scandal as France realised the scale of official blunders that had left Barella at liberty.
From BBC ● Jun. 12, 2026
It was one of the German chancellor’s worst strategic blunders.
From Salon ● May 21, 2026
“Ford…has in his social endeavor committed economic blunders, if not crimes,” The Wall Street Journal opined on Jan. 7, 1914.
From Barron's ● May 20, 2026
Henry Lynn has taken possession of an ottoman at the feet of Louisa: Adèle shares it with him: he is trying to talk French with her, and Louisa laughs at his blunders.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
That’s why Evgeny blundered into Dmitri’s shop, although he admits that he’s none too successful at this gig.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 26, 2026
But Ding blundered on move 55 and Gukesh exploited the error to clinch the title.
From BBC ● Dec. 12, 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
Like SVB, First Republic blundered into trouble as the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates almost 14 months ago.
From Washington Post ● May 1, 2023
It was not until he had blundered and crashed along his way for some time, wildly upbraiding himself, that he calmed down with the realization that he was well and truly lost.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
He thanked his team and family before blundering into acknowledging the prime minister in the Royal Box.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
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
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
By the time she got to Nin’s back door, Sefia was lost and half-gone with grief, spitting, blind, blundering, falling into Nin’s thick cushiony arms as if she were diving off a cliff.
From "The Reader" by Traci Chee
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.
