bollixing (up)

verb

present participle of bollix (up)
as in fumbling
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way you've bollixed up the whole thing

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for bollixing (up)
  1. fumbling
  2. blowing
  3. screwing up
  4. mucking up
  5. fouling up
Verb
  • After not fumbling all year and not committing a turnover throughout the month of October, Young got strip-sacked in the second quarter and Tampa Bay returned it for a touchdown.
    — Scott Fowler, Charlotte Observer, 25 Oct. 2026
  • The Seahawks had one of the worst turnovers in the NFL this season, fumbling in their own end zone and handing the 49ers a touchdown with 13 seconds left in the first half.
    — Dan Zaksheske OutKick, FOXNews.com, 12 Oct. 2026
Definition of fumbling
Verb
  • Officials had budgeted $100,000 for the program and wound up blowing through that in just a few hours.
    — Jack Dolan, Los Angeles Times, 23 Oct. 2026
  • While animal rights advocates have pushed for Congress to adopt legislation that would phase out the fur industry, buying out farmers over the course of a year to end the practice once and for all, winds in Congress are blowing the other direction.
    — Nat Lash, ProPublica, 23 Oct. 2026
Definition of blowing
Verb
  • So not screwing up Spider-Man is about putting a beating heart at the center rather than a bunch of spectacle.
    — Chris Lee, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2026
  • The fear of failure can do as much harm as actually screwing up.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2026
Definition of screwing up
Verb
  • But life has a way of mucking up even the best plans, sometimes all at once and sometimes bit by bit and usually a little of both.
    — Brian Grubb, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Amid the memory shortage that's mucking up component prices globally, at least Qualcomm has some promising news for folks hoping to pay less for a daily driver.
    — Florence Ion, PC Magazine, 7 May 2026
Definition of mucking up
Verb
  • Then police closed that, too — at midafternoon Tuesday after a report of a suspicious package — fouling up traffic for New Yorkers even more.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 23 Sep. 2026
Definition of fouling up
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

bollixes (up)
bollixing (up)
bollix (up)
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Cite this Entry

“Bollixing (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bollixing%20%28up%29. Accessed 28 Oct. 2026.

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