Adjacent Words

Bungle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

BUNG'LE, v.i. bung'gl. To perform in a clumsy, awkward manner; as, to bungle in making shoes.
BUNG'LE, v.t. To make or mend clumsily; to both; to manage awkwardly; with up.
BUNG'LE, n. A botch; inaccuracy; gross blunder; clumsy performance.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an embarrassing mistake [syn: blunder, blooper, bloomer, bungle, pratfall, foul-up, fuckup, flub, botch, boner, boo-boo] v
1: make a mess of, destroy or ruin; "I botched the dinner and we had to eat out"; "the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement" [syn: botch, bodge, bumble, fumble, botch up, muff, blow, flub, screw up, ball up, spoil, muck up, bungle, fluff, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, bobble, mishandle, louse up, foul up, mess up, fuck up]
2: spoil by behaving clumsily or foolishly; "I bungled it!"

Merriam Webster's

verb (bungled; bungling) Etymology: perhaps of Scandinavian origin; akin to Icelandic banga to hammer Date: 1549 intransitive verb to act or work clumsily and awkwardly transitive verb mishandle, botch <bungle a job> • bungle noun • bungler noun • bunglingly adverb

Oxford Reference Dictionary

v. & n. --v. 1 tr. blunder over, mismanage, or fail at (a task). 2 intr. work badly or clumsily. --n. a bungled attempt; bungled work. Derivatives: bungler n. Etymology: imit.: cf. BUMBLE

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bungle Bun"gle, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Bungled; p. pr. & vb. n. Bungling.] [Prob. a diminutive from, akin to bang; cf. Prov. G. bungen to beat, bang, OSw. bunga. See Bang.] To act or work in a clumsy, awkward manner.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bungle Bun"gle, v. t. To make or mend clumsily; to manage awkwardly; to botch; -- sometimes with up. I always had an idea that it would be bungled. --Byron.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bungle Bun"gle, n. A clumsy or awkward performance; a botch; a gross blunder. Those errors and bungles which are committed. --Cudworth.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(bungles, bungling, bungled) If you bungle something, you fail to do it properly, because you make mistakes or are clumsy. Two prisoners bungled an escape bid after running either side of a lamp-post while handcuffed. ...the FBI's bungled attempt to end the 51 day siege. = botch VERB: V n, V-ed • Bungle is also a noun. ...an appalling administrative bungle. N-COUNT • bungling ...a bungling burglar. ADJ

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. Botch, do clumsily, mismanage, make a botch of, make a mess of. II. v. n. Work clumsily, be a botcher.

Moby Thesaurus

bad job, bat out, be all thumbs, bevue, blooper, blow, blunder, blunder away, blunder into, blunder on, blunder upon, bobble, boggle, bollix, bonehead play, boner, boo-boo, botch, bugger, bull, bumble, butcher, clumsy performance, commit a gaffe, dash off, do anyhow, do by halves, do carelessly, do offhand, err, error, etourderie, fake up, faux pas, fiasco, flounder, flub, fluff, flunk, foozle, fuck up, fudge up, fumble, gaffe, gaucherie, goof, goof up, gum up, hash, indiscretion, jury-rig, knock off, knock out, knock together, lapse, lash up, louse up, lumber, make a blunder, make a misstep, mar, mess, mess up, miscue, mismanage, miss, miss the mark, misspeak, mistake, muck up, muddle, muff, murder, off day, patch, patch together, patch up, play havoc with, pound out, rough out, roughcast, roughhew, sad work, screw up, slap up, slip, slip up, snafu, solecism, spoil, stumble, stupidity, throw off, throw together, toss off, toss out, toss together, trifle with, trip, washout, whomp up