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
For technology-phobes, the clues are also taped to the banquet room wall by a pair of bumbling detectives.
—Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, the Browns looked every bumbling bit of a 3-9 club with rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders making his first home start.
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 30 Nov. 2025
The role was looking for a bumbling fool.
—Breanne L. Heldman, PEOPLE, 28 Nov. 2025
But in writing about the experience, Plimpton turned off-field fandom and on-field bumbling into literary gold.
—Stephen Siff, The Conversation, 26 Nov. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bumbling
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Pam Kragen, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Dec. 2025
Meanwhile, the Browns looked every bumbling bit of a 3-9 club with rookie quarterback Shedeur Sanders making his first home start.
—Cam Inman, Mercury News, 30 Nov. 2025
The role was looking for a bumbling fool.
—Breanne L. Heldman, PEOPLE, 28 Nov. 2025
But in writing about the experience, Plimpton turned off-field fandom and on-field bumbling into literary gold.
—Stephen Siff, The Conversation, 26 Nov. 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 10 Dec. 2025.
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