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

bumblingly adverb

… none of them truly wants him in her home while he tries, bumblingly, to get his act together …

—Laura Collins-Hughes

Examples of bumbling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

He’s also written and self-published a series of novels about a bumbling private detective named Frank Burly. —Brian Boone, Vulture, 18 June 2025

The Naked Gun is a direct sequel to the original trilogy, with Neeson playing Lt. Frank Drebin Jr., son of Nielsen's bumbling lawman. —Randall Colburn, EW.com, 16 June 2025

The state fund suffers enough by being under the administration of the bumbling Office of Higher Education. —Kevin Rennie, Hartford Courant, 14 June 2025

Broadway San Diego presents the national touring production of this comedy musical about a pair of bumbling missionaries who get creative when their recruiting efforts in Africa fall flat. —San Diego Union-Tribune, 9 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1660, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for bumbling

• crumbling
• fumbling
• grumbling
• humbling
• mumbling
• rumbling
• stumbling
• tumbling