Definitions
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective not skillful in physical movement especially with the hands.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An act of
bumbling , a mistake or error especially throughclumsiness . - verb Present participle of
bumble .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bumbling.
Examples
-
The Senate Homeland Security Committee says the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA, has become a symbol of what it calls bumbling bureaucracy, and it should be abolished.
-
But it falls flat in the futuristic fridge, and she calls a bumbling Quantum Mechanic
The Berkeley Daily Planet, The East Bay's Independent Newspaper 2008
-
Nothing could have been clearer, but Floyd, whom Bruce Catton generously describes as a bumbling incompetent, ignored the letter because, among its wealth of cogent information, it contained one trifling error - the writer stated that Brown had an agent "in an armoury in Maryland".
THE NUMBERS 2010
-
The handsome Canadian spent more than 60 years doing serious roles in movies and on television, but he is probably best known as the bumbling cop Lt. Frank Drebin in the "Naked Gun" spoofs.
Celebrity-free Twitter, James Franco, a Pink Floyd movie Gabriela Melendez Olivera 2010
-
Bush had to resolve doubts that -- of what Gore called the bumbling, babbling Bush.
CNN Transcript - Special Event: Election Presidential Debate: The Voters Respond - October 11, 2000 2000
-
The National Intelligence Agency, which could be described as a bumbling brutal fool, should be shut down, according to Kobus
-
Nothing could have been clearer, but Floyd, whom Bruce Catton generously describes as a bumbling incompetent, ignored the letter because, among its wealth of cogent information, it contained one trifling error - the writer stated that Brown had an agent "in an armoury in Maryland".
Flashman and the angel of the lord Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1995
-
Nothing could have been clearer, but Floyd, whom Bruce Catton generously describes as a bumbling incompetent, ignored the letter because, among its wealth of cogent information, it contained one trifling error - the writer stated that Brown had an agent "in an armoury in Maryland".
Flashman and the angel of the lord Fraser, George MacDonald, 1925- 1995
-
More recently there was John (bomb Iran) McCain, who can best be described as a bumbling old fool.
-
More recently there was John (bomb Iran) McCain, who can best be described as a bumbling old fool.
mohitanand commented on the word bumbling
adjective: lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands
Within a week of starting, the bumbling new waiter was unceremoniously fired.
October 19, 2016
bilby commented on the word bumbling
Not sure that bit really needs bling, but oh well.
June 27, 2020
alexz commented on the word bumbling
Maybe it's what people call using the Bumble app, no, nobody calls it that.
June 27, 2020