boo-boo
Americannoun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of boo-boo
An Americanism dating back to 1950–55; baby talk
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:
Widely ridiculed on social media for his lack of knowledge, Mr Harris apologised for what he described as an "awful boo-boo".
From BBC ● Mar. 24, 2024
It might be your internet company’s fault, a boo-boo with your home equipment or interference from your neighbor’s Call of Duty game night.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 3, 2023
Some attestation forms seem impractical, requiring parents to interview their pre-school-age children about their health, when some that age can’t distinguish between a boo-boo and a sore throat.
From New York Times ● Jan. 31, 2022
“Then everybody put a boo-boo on that. They said: ‘What are you doing, ratting on about that?’
From The Guardian ● Mar. 23, 2020
When he was three and fell on a stick in our driveway, I was the one who took him inside and got a Band-Aid and his boo-boo bunny.
From "Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie" by Jordan Sonnenblick
![]()
“We have so many animals that have boo-boos in our book,” a brown-haired woman said in a singsong voice, holding up a book called “All Better!”
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 2, 2023
Obviously, there were some boo-boos and things that I can definitely work on and fix by the time I do my individual.
From Washington Post ● Feb. 7, 2022
She has also gotten a couple of mulligans on biographical boo-boos.
From Fox News ● Oct. 9, 2019
Epic Fails of 2016 This new special surveys some of the biggest pop-culture boo-boos and celebrity blunders of the past 12 months.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2016
“Myrna Minkoff? Don’t gimme that foolishness, Ignatius. That girl’s in New York. I know you, boy. You musta really pulled some boo-boos at that Levy Pants.”
From "A Confederacy of Dunces" by John Kennedy Toole
![]()
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.