as in butcher
someone who bungles an effort
leave it to that blunderbuss to bungle a job that a child could do
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Recent Examples of blunderbuss
Cost cutting ‘blunderbuss’ DOGE is part of a long line of presidential efforts to take an ax to the administrative state.
—
Zac Anderson, USA TODAY, 11 Feb. 2025
Colman is Edith Swan, a middle-aged church lady who still lives with her blunderbuss of a father (Timothy Spall) and mild-mannered mother (Gemma Jones) in a working-class neighborhood of Littlehampton.
—Ty Burr, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024
The State Department, in its blunderbuss way, wanted to open up a kind of détente with the citizens of Communist Eastern Europe.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 27 Mar. 2023
As a result, all polls (even those with glittering brand names) should be regarded as closer to a blunderbuss than a sharpshooter’s rifle.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 25 Oct. 2022
See All Example Sentences for blunderbuss
Zac Anderson, USA TODAY, 11 Feb. 2025
Colman is Edith Swan, a middle-aged church lady who still lives with her blunderbuss of a father (Timothy Spall) and mild-mannered mother (Gemma Jones) in a working-class neighborhood of Littlehampton.
—Ty Burr, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024
The State Department, in its blunderbuss way, wanted to open up a kind of détente with the citizens of Communist Eastern Europe.
—Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 27 Mar. 2023
As a result, all polls (even those with glittering brand names) should be regarded as closer to a blunderbuss than a sharpshooter’s rifle.
—Walter Shapiro, The New Republic, 25 Oct. 2022
See All Example Sentences for blunderbuss
Recent Examples of Synonyms for blunderbuss
butcher
Noun
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One of the butchers returned with a 20-gauge shotgun.—
Bennet Goldstein,
jsonline.com,
4 July 2025
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Whose former city attorney, Michael Gates, sued California to keep out of his hometown everything from sanctuary state policies to affordable housing mandates and is now a deputy U.S. assistant attorney general for civil rights, which is like putting a butcher in charge of a vegan picnic?—
Gustavo Arellano,
Los Angeles Times,
28 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Blunderbuss.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blunderbuss. Accessed 22 Aug. 2025.
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