fumble

[fuhm-buhl]

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verb (used without object), fum·bled, fum·bling.

to feel or grope about clumsily: She fumbled in her purse for the keys.

Sports. to fumble the ball.

verb (used with object), fum·bled, fum·bling.

to make, handle, etc., clumsily or inefficiently: to fumble an attempt; He fumbled his way through the crowded room.

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

noun

the act of fumbling: We completed the difficult experiment without a fumble.

Sports. an act or instance of fumbling the ball.

Origin of fumble

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

Related formsfum·bler, nounfum·bling·ly, adverbfum·bling·ness, nounout·fum·ble, verb (used with object), out·fum·bled, out·fum·bling.un·fum·bled, adjectiveun·fum·bling, adjective

Synonyms for fumble

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR fumble ON THESAURUS.COM

3. bungle, botch, mishandle, spoil, muff.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for fumbling

flub, stumble, mishandle, botch, goof, fluff, err, flounder, mismanage, feel, grapple, spoil, grope, bungle, bollix, scrabble, misfield

Examples from the Web for fumbling

Contemporary Examples of fumbling

Huckabee framed the situation this way: “We are fumbling on multiple fronts.”
Iowa Frontrunner Mike Huckabee Talks to The Daily Beast
Lloyd Green
September 22, 2014
Season one of OITNB chronicled her clumsy, fumbling attempts to get her legs under her so she could run for safety.
‘Orange Is the New Black’ Season Two Is More Bingeworthy Than the First
Kevin Fallon
May 16, 2014
By fumbling that final big decision, Ferguson may have tarnished his legacy forever.
David Moyes: The Vanity of Alex Ferguson
Nico Hines
April 23, 2014
But on the IRS story, there was systematic "fumbling" in the West Wing.
The White House and the IRS: A Carteresque Fiasco
Robert Shrum
May 28, 2013
Fumbling over the words, he shouts, “This goddammed stutter!”
‘Hyde Park on Hudson’: Is Bill Murray as FDR an Oscar Frontrunner?
Marlow Stern
September 2, 2012

Historical Examples of fumbling

We are, on the contrary, fumbling and wallowing about where the Greek pondered and philosophized.
'Tis Sixty Years Since
Charles Francis Adams
He had taken his hand away from his breast, and was fumbling with it on the grass behind him.
In the Valley
Harold Frederic
"About fifty dollars, I think," said the travelling man, fumbling for his wallet.
The Fortune Hunter
Louis Joseph Vance
"I got it 'ere," responded the sailor hastily, fumbling with his tie.
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance
In another instant, fumbling in the darkness, he found the bolts and drove them home.
The Black Bag
Louis Joseph Vance

British Dictionary definitions for fumbling

fumble

verb

(intr; often foll by for or with) to grope about clumsily or blindly, esp in searchinghe was fumbling in the dark for the money he had dropped

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

to say or do hesitantly or awkwardlyhe fumbled the introduction badly

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

noun

the act of fumbling

Derived Formsfumbler, nounfumblingly, adverbfumblingness, noun

Word Origin for fumble

C16: probably of Scandinavian origin; related to Swedish fumla

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

Word Origin and History for fumbling

fumble

mid-15c., "handle clumsily," possibly from Old Norse falma "to fumble, grope." Similar words in Scandinavian and North Sea Germanic suggest onomatopoeia from a sound felt to indicate clumsiness (cf. bumble, stumble, and obsolete English famble, fimble of roughly the same meaning). Related: Fumbled; fumbling.

fumble

1640s, from fumble (v.).