EN

Synonyms for goof

45 synonyms
3 meanings

noun
verb

Most common

mistake screw-up blunder blooper jack-ass buffoon child molester

Synonyms by meaning

Noun

1. Blunder — A mistake or error

screw-up, blunder, mistake, flub informal US AU NZ, boo-boo informal, blooper, slip, error, fluff, gaffe, lapse, fault, howler, faux pas, stumble, mis-step, bungle, clanger, pratfall, solecism, boner slang dated, bloomer dated

2. Goofball

goofball informal, goofy informal US CA, jerk, jack-ass, buffoon, clown, zany, mutt, fathead, ding-a-ling, goose, cuckoo, lunkhead informal, dolt, dunce, bozo slang, twat vulgar slang

Other

Verb

1. Drop the ball

drop the ball, boob, sin

Other

muck up informal, err

Definitions

n. 1
A mistake or error.
I made a goof in that last calculation.
n. 2
A mistake or error. An error made during production which finds its way into the final release.
v. 1
To make a mistake.

Related words

Word family: goofball goofer goofish goofus goofy
Phrases: goof up goof off goof around

Forms

Plural: goofs → screw-ups, blunders, mistakes, flubs…
Past participle: goofed
e.g. goofed → boobed, sinned, erred…

Example sentences

mistake If that man makes one more mistake, I'll fire him.
blunder Don't worry about your blunder: it wasn't serious.
buffoon Tom is what my father would call a buffoon.

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
goof		rising
mistake		rising
blunder		steady
blooper		rising

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

By length

3 letters: sin¹, err¹
4 letters: slip¹, jerk¹, boob¹, twat¹, mutt¹, zany², bozo², dolt, flub
5 letters: fault¹, error², clown¹, goose¹, goofy², lapse¹, fluff¹, boner², gaffe¹, dunce
6 letters: cuckoo², howler², bungle²
7 letters: mistake², stumble², blunder², buffoon², bloomer², blooper², fathead, clanger
8 letters: goofball, pratfall², solecism, lunkhead

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (zany² = 2 syllables).