flounder
1 Americanverb (used without object)
-
flounders,
present (3rd person singular)
-
floundered,
past participle, past
-
floundering
present participle
-
to struggle with stumbling or plunging movements (usually followed by about, along, on, through, etc.).
He saw the child floundering about in the water.
-
to struggle clumsily or helplessly.
He floundered helplessly on the first day of his new job.
-
to be in imminent danger of failure.
The negotiations floundered primarily on the question of extending regional autonomy.
noun
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flounder,
plural
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flounders
plural
-
a European, marine flatfish, Platichthys flesus, used for food.
-
any of numerous similar or closely related non-European flatfishes.
-
any flatfish other than soles.
verb
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to struggle; to move with difficulty, as in mud
-
to behave awkwardly; make mistakes
noun
noun
-
Also called: fluke. a European flatfish, Platichthys flesus having a greyish-brown body covered with prickly scales: family Pleuronectidae : an important food fish
-
any flatfish of the families Bothidae (turbot, etc) and Pleuronectidae (plaice, halibut, sand dab, etc)
Usage
Flounder is sometimes wrongly used where founder is meant: the project foundered (not floundered ) because of a lack of funds
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
floundersimple
-
flounderssimple
-
have flounderedperfect
-
has flounderedperfect
-
am flounderingprogressive
-
are flounderingprogressive
-
is flounderingprogressive
-
have been flounderingperfect progressive
-
has been flounderingperfect progressive
Past
-
flounderedsimple
-
had flounderedperfect
-
was flounderingprogressive
-
were flounderingprogressive
-
had been flounderingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of flounder1
First recorded in 1570–80; perhaps blend of flounce 1 and founder 2
Origin of flounder2
1400–50; late Middle English < Anglo-French floundre < Scandinavian; compare Norwegian flundra
Explanation
A flounder is a flat fish with both eyes on one side of its head; and, as a verb, to flounder is to wobble around like a fish out of water. To flounder is to be unsteady or uncertain. It's probably from the Dutch word flodderen, "to flop about," or it's a mix of founder ("to fail") and blunder ("do something clumsy"). If you flounder in the ocean, you need a surfer dude to scoop you up. You don't have to be in water, though; you can flounder any time you're a little wobbly — like after a long hike or during the last hour of the SATs. Either way, when you flounder, you wish you were a flat fish at the bottom of the sea.
Vocabulary lists containing flounder
List 2
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"The Most Dangerous Game" by Richard Connell
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A Vocabulary Bestiary: Animals That Behave as Verbs
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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:
While some job hoppers flounder, she said, plenty of others hit the ground running.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
“The Little Sister” grows even more intriguing once the love affair runs aground, forcing Fatima to flounder in her heartache.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
The outlook for younger workers could flounder if the effects of the recent oil shock lead to a pullback in discretionary spending.
From Barron's ● May 5, 2026
And recent history shows this is the month where City excel and Arsenal flounder.
From BBC ● Apr. 11, 2026
The flounder found their way back out to sea soon enough, and the fish flopping about on the sand were scooped up only by the quickest.
From "A Single Shard" by Linda Sue Park
Notice how AI doomers can seem like gaffed flounders when encountering a non-pilled reporter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 15, 2026
As the play flounders, director Jo Bonney casts about for solutions.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 14, 2026
Haddock are caught by the same fishers who target other bottom-dwelling groundfish species such as cod, pollock and flounders.
From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2023
South Korea's central bank raised its policy interest rate by an unprecedented half point on Wednesday, aiming to pull inflation from 24-year highs while balancing fear of a sharp economic downturn as business activity flounders.
From Reuters ● Jul. 13, 2022
Old platter-foot Doxology was daintily nibbling hay from the manger with lips like two flounders.
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Plus, more than one, external US company working in this space has floundered in recent years, external.
From BBC ● Sep. 29, 2026
Attempts at diplomacy have floundered as fighting escalates on several fronts across Africa's third-largest country.
From Barron's ● Sep. 11, 2026
Complacency was the exact thing that general manager Kelly McCrimmon was looking to eliminate when he fired coach Bruce Cassidy 74 games into the regular season as the Golden Knights floundered.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 5, 2026
Having been branded the next Bernstein, MTT floundered.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 24, 2026
Seth floundered at the center of an underwater pyrotechnics display.
From "Fablehaven" by Brandon Mull
The performance adds to the list of fiscal challenges in the country, where budget deficits were swelling and giant projects floundering even before the war in Iran.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 30, 2026
He was the emotionally tortured and volatile chef who left behind a rising career in Michelin-starred restaurants to return to Chicago, his hometown, to run his recently deceased brother’s floundering sandwich joint.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 26, 2026
However, the event is floundering as one act after another withdraws.
From Barron's ● May 29, 2026
With his generational rival Carlos Alcaraz injured, and most of the top 10 floundering, Sinner goes to Roland Garros as the heaviest favourite since the great Rafael Nadal.
From BBC ● May 17, 2026
"Through here, I said-" The boar was floundering away from them.
From "Lord of the Flies" by William Golding
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.
