bumbling
adjective
bum·bling
ˈbəm-b(ə-)liŋ 
: awkwardly blundering or faltering
a bumbling speaker
: prone to or marked by foolish mistakes
a bumbling attempt to fix the problem
… many Americans see the F.D.A. as bumbling and inefficient …—
Herbert Burkholz
Herbert Burkholz
bumblingly
adverb
… none of them truly wants him in her home while he tries, bumblingly, to get his act together …
—Laura Collins-Hughes
Laura Collins-Hughes
Examples of bumbling in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Produced by Yann Zenou (YZE) and Nicolas Duval Adassovsky (ADNP/QUAD), the film stars Poelvoorde as Jean Chevalin, a bumbling trickster who accidentally deserts the army in 1940s France and must protect his family from the advancing Nazi threat.
—Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 5 Nov. 2025
Well, in a shrewd bit of scheduling, just as its fifth series concludes, Apple TV is premiering yet another Mick Herron adaptation centered around the bumbling inner workings of British government, starring an Oscar-winning national treasure to boot.
—Jon O'Brien, IndieWire, 30 Oct. 2025
Of course, the only person who can save the town is the bumbling Ernest and his arsenal of alternate personalities, like Auntie Edna, Bunny Jeanette and even Genghis Khan.
—Keith Langston, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025
Hamza Malik, a bumbling Intelligence and Threats official, gets his ass handed to him by his superior, a steely, very tall man with a Bond-villain demeanor who all but steps on Malik’s neck.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bumbling
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Melanie Goodfellow, Deadline, 5 Nov. 2025
Well, in a shrewd bit of scheduling, just as its fifth series concludes, Apple TV is premiering yet another Mick Herron adaptation centered around the bumbling inner workings of British government, starring an Oscar-winning national treasure to boot.
—Jon O'Brien, IndieWire, 30 Oct. 2025
Of course, the only person who can save the town is the bumbling Ernest and his arsenal of alternate personalities, like Auntie Edna, Bunny Jeanette and even Genghis Khan.
—Keith Langston, PEOPLE, 30 Oct. 2025
Hamza Malik, a bumbling Intelligence and Threats official, gets his ass handed to him by his superior, a steely, very tall man with a Bond-villain demeanor who all but steps on Malik’s neck.
—Rafaela Bassili, Vulture, 29 Oct. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bumbling
Cite this Entry
“Bumbling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bumbling. Accessed 19 Nov. 2025.
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