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Synonyms

boo-boo

American  
[boo-boo] / ˈbuˌbu /

noun

Slang.

plural

boo-boos

  1. a minor injury; owie.

    My dad was doing dishes and kissing boo-boos way back in the 1960s.

  2. a stupid or silly mistake; blunder.

    Even people with loads of sewing experience make boo-boos when creating a piece!
    Synonyms:
    slip-up, slip, screwup, goof, fumble, fluff, flub
boo-boo British  

noun

  1. informal an embarrassing mistake; blunder

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

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

But then she leans in and places a gentle kiss on my stinging cheek, like a mother kissing a little kid’s boo-boo.

From "Dry" by Neal Shusterman and Jarrod Shusterman

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.