EN

Synonyms for bumble

30 synonyms
1 antonym
3 meanings

verb
noun

Most common

mess up fluff bobble bungle

Synonyms by meaning

Verb

1. Bungle

bungle, botch, spoil, ball up, blow, bobble, fumble, mess up, flub US AU NZ, muck up informal, botch up informal, louse up informal, fluff, muff, foul up, bollix, bolix US, mishandle, bodge, blunder, bollocks up vulgar slang UK AU NZ, bollocks vulgar UK IE, bollix up slang US

2. Stumble

stumble, falter

3. Stutter

stutter, stammer

Noun

screw-up, buzz, fuck-up, hum

Antonyms

All antonyms of bumble →

Definitions

v. 1
To act or move in an awkward or confused manner (often clumsily, incompetently, or carelessly).
Spiders build webs and wait for insects to bumble into them.
v. 2
To carry out (a task) clumsily, incompetently, or with many careless mistakes; to bungle, to botch.
v. 3
To boom, as a Eurasian bittern.
n. 1
A confusion; a jumble.

Related words

Word family: bumblebee bumbler

Forms

Plural: bumbles → screw-ups, buzzes, fuck-ups, hums…
Past participle: bumbled
e.g. bumbled → bungled, botched, spoilt, blown…

Example sentences

fluff Let's see if I can't fluff up your pillow.
bobble Mary watch the figurine's head bobble.
bungle The company will never recover after that last bungle.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
bumble		steady
fluff		rising
bobble		rising
bungle		steady

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

3 letters: hum¹
4 letters: blow¹, buzz¹, muff¹, flub
5 letters: spoil¹, fluff¹, botch¹, bodge, bolix
6 letters: fumble², falter², bobble², bungle², bollix
7 letters: stumble², blunder², stutter², stammer²
8 letters: bollocks²
9 letters: mishandle³

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (fumble² = 2 syllables).