flounder
1to 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.
Origin of flounder
1Other words for flounder
Other definitions for flounder (2 of 2)
a European, marine flatfish, Platichthys flesus, used for food.
any of numerous similar or closely related non-European flatfishes.
any flatfish other than soles.
Origin of flounder
2Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use flounder in a sentence
Gow floundered down the slope, trying to find a clearing in the thick trees.
How One Man Survived a Plane Crash and 5 Days in the Snowy Canadian Wilderness—and Went On to Help Shape the Modern Ski Industry | Cassidy Randall | December 27, 2020 | TimeCompanies with healthy balance sheets will be on the lookout for smaller upstarts and floundering rivals they can scoop up.
2021’s hottest fashion trend will be widespread industry consolidation | Marc Bain | December 26, 2020 | QuartzLast summer, as Prime Minister Boris Johnson floundered while responding to the pandemic, Sunak arranged direct wage subsidies and has become the skinny-suited face of the country’s fiscal policy.
Certainly there were those who were married, but many floundered, living solitary lives.
His bid quickly floundered; memorable only for his promise to try to evangelize Chuck Schumer if elected to the Senate.
And indeed, when people tried to explain things like the banking system to me, I floundered.
Google so far has floundered in the living room, with a half-baked product called Google TV that was a total flop.
Microsoft’s Tablet Revolution: Surface Marks End of the PC Era | Dan Lyons | June 20, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTWhile Romney has floundered to explain his religion, Love is confident in her faith.
She-PAC Targets Democratic Misogynist Hypocrisy, Pushes GOP Women Candidates | Allison Yarrow | March 20, 2012 | THE DAILY BEASTThe Cockalorum pondered over this for a moment, and then murmuring, "I prefer croquet," floundered away through the waving grass.
Davy and The Goblin | Charles E. CarrylAt last the lascar rose and floundered through the mud toward the village, but he was careful to leave an ally to watch the boats.
Kipling Stories and Poems Every Child Should Know, Book II | Rudyard KiplingOccasionally the horses floundered over smooth rocks and were nearly carried away.
Mystery Ranch | Arthur ChapmanWalking, half awake, Ida floundered among the boulders and through a horrible maze of whitened driftwood cast up by the stream.
The Gold Trail | Harold BindlossHe floundered aimlessly, striving by short sallies to recover the path from which the storm had taken him, but all to no purpose.
The White Desert | Courtney Ryley Cooper
British Dictionary definitions for flounder (1 of 2)
/ (ˈflaʊndə) /
to struggle; to move with difficulty, as in mud
to behave awkwardly; make mistakes
the act of floundering
Origin of flounder
1usage For flounder
British Dictionary definitions for flounder (2 of 2)
/ (ˈflaʊndə) /
Also called: fluke a European flatfish, Platichthys flesus having a greyish-brown body covered with prickly scales: family Pleuronectidae : an important food fish
US and Canadian any flatfish of the families Bothidae (turbot, etc) and Pleuronectidae (plaice, halibut, sand dab, etc)
Origin of flounder
2Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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