fumble

American  

[fuhm-buhl] / ˈfʌm bəl /

verb (used without object)

• fumbles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fumbled,
  past participle,  past
• fumbling
  present participle

1. to feel or grope about clumsily.

   She fumbled in her purse for the keys.

2. Sports. to fumble the ball.

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verb (used with object)

• fumbles,
  present (3rd person singular)
• fumbled,
  past participle,  past
• fumbling
  present participle

1. to make, handle, etc., clumsily or inefficiently.

   to fumble an attempt; He fumbled his way through the crowded room.

   Synonyms:

   muff, spoil, mishandle, botch, bungle

2. Sports. to fail to hold or maintain hold on (a ball) after having touched it or carried it.

noun

• fumbles
  plural

1. the act of fumbling.

   We completed the difficult experiment without a fumble.

2. Sports. an act or instance of fumbling the ball.

fumble British  

/ ˈfʌmbəl /

verb

1. (intr; often foll by for or with) to grope about clumsily or blindly, esp in searching

   he was fumbling in the dark for the money he had dropped

2. (intr; foll by at or with) to finger or play with, esp in an absent-minded way

3. to say or do hesitantly or awkwardly

   he fumbled the introduction badly

4. to fail to catch or grasp (a ball, etc) cleanly

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noun

1. the act of fumbling

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• fumbler
  noun
• fumblingness
  noun
• outfumble
  verb (used with object)
• unfumbled
  adjective
• unfumbling
  adjective
• fumblingly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• fumbles
  plural

Participles

• fumbling
  present
• fumbled
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• fumble
  simple
• fumbles
  simple
• have fumbled
  perfect
• has fumbled
  perfect
• am fumbling
  progressive
• are fumbling
  progressive
• is fumbling
  progressive
• have been fumbling
  perfect progressive
• has been fumbling
  perfect progressive

Past

• fumbled
  simple
• had fumbled
  perfect
• was fumbling
  progressive
• were fumbling
  progressive
• had been fumbling
  perfect progressive

Future

• will fumble
  simple
• will have fumbled
  perfect
• will be fumbling
  progressive
• will have been fumbling
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of fumble

1500–10; akin to Norwegian, Swedish fumla, Middle Low German fummeln to grope, fumble

Explanation

If you're a football fan you know all about the agony of the fumble — the clumsy handling of the ball that makes you drop it or lose possession. Fumbling is an uncoordinated movement that can involve your entire body, not just your hands. Witness the poor parent of a newborn trying to fumble with a diaper on at three in the morning. Fumble has a more metaphorical meaning as well, meaning to mess up or mishandle. Politicians are often accused of fumbling the major issues.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

fumble fumbles fumbled fumbling

After forcing a Bills fumble, the Rams set up a game-winning field goal that Buffalo blocked.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026

Truist starts IBM stock at Hold, citing lingering concerns over the tech giant’s second-quarter execution fumble.

From Barron's ● Oct. 9, 2026

It sure felt like a Washington home game when they recovered a Colts fumble on just the game's second play.

From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026

Previously, he would have had to fumble with a paper map that risked deteriorating in the jungle humidity.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 3, 2026

Clancy put his hands in the air as if Satchmo had just retrieved a fumble.

From "Look Both Ways" by Jason Reynolds

This time their defence did their job too, though, recording four sacks and forcing four fumbles.

From BBC ● Sep. 14, 2026

But it ends with a blooper shot where Burnham fumbles to catch the helmet and bursts out laughing.

From Barron's ● Aug. 16, 2026

Browner finished his career with 37 interceptions, 17 forced fumbles and 17 fumble recoveries.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 30, 2026

Which means some fumbles remain fumbles on my phone: “Fog” occasionally becomes “dog” and tennis star Carlos Alcaraz unfairly earns the surname Alcatraz.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 29, 2026

She fumbles around in her bag and pulls out the cell phone her mother made her start carrying when she was ten—child Lojack, Kim called it—and turned on the monitor.

From "If I Stay" by Gayle Forman

It wasn’t going to fall to running back James Cook, who had fumbled twice already.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2026

The Giants scored two late touchdowns to force overtime but, when within range of a winning field goal, they ran the ball with Cam Skattebo, who fumbled to lose possession.

From BBC ● Oct. 12, 2026

A few years ago, during the run-up to the Thanksgiving holiday rush, workers in one of the new automated California grocery warehouses realized that its robotic arms fumbled large frozen turkeys.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026

During a 35-6 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, Maye was picked off twice and also fumbled two times, losing one.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2026

I hadn’t anticipated his last question, and I fumbled for an answer.

From "The Red Car to Hollywood" by Jennie Liu

But on that day, the Wolverines’ punter could almost be forgiven for fumbling a long snap that came spiraling toward him in frigid autumn conditions.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 20, 2026

Whether or not it’s fair to compare Take-Two’s investigation of a leaked video game with the DOJ fumbling inquiries into participants of a global sex trafficking ring, the internet has certainly taken notice.

From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026

"It's not like that for postpartum psychosis, so it was a lot of kind of like fumbling around in the dark," Cliffel said.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

I kind of feel like we’re all in this relay race, right, and we’re just fumbling the ball to one another and trying to move forward.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2026

“Got it,” Calder called back, fumbling on the wall inside the first room he came to.

From "Chasing Vermeer" by Blue Balliett

Related Words

• botch
• flub
• mishandle
• screw up
• stumble