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View synonyms for goof-up

goof-up

or goof·up

[ goof-uhp ]

noun

, Slang.
  1. a person who habitually makes mistakes, spoils things, gets into trouble, etc., especially through carelessness or irresponsibility.
  2. a mistake, blunder, malfunction, or the like.


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Word History and Origins

Origin of goof-up1

First recorded in 1940–45; noun use of verb phrase goof up
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Idioms and Phrases

Blunder, make a mistake, spoil. For example, I really goofed up and got all the dates wrong . This expression emerged in the military during World War II, along with the synonymous goof off . Quite often up is omitted, as in Sorry, I goofed . [ Slang ; c. 1940]
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Example Sentences

We know we're gonna get 'em eventually, because we know they're gonna goof up eventually, and then we'll have 'em.

What kind of psionic force would it take to make so many people in the United States goof up the way they were doing?

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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.

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