as in fumbling
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way
he booted the answer of what should have been an easy question
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Recent Examples of booting
Kansas City has knocked the Bills out of the postseason four of the past five years — including two AFC Championship games — with the Bengals booting them out of the 2022 playoffs.
—
Austin Mock, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Upon booting up the game and working through a pretty robust character creator, players arrive in Lumiose City and are immediately ambushed by a content creator/social media manager working for the corporation Quasartico, Inc.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 24 Sep. 2025
BMCs also enable some of the most sensitive operations, such as reflashing the firmware for the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) that’s responsible for loading the server OS when booting.
—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 24 Sep. 2025
An incredible series of plays, a last-gasp effort, and the fortuitous foot of Matt Prater, the field goal kicker who’d been in Buffalo no more than 100 hours, booting a 32-yarder for the win.
—Coy Wire, CNN Money, 8 Sep. 2025
Perez retaliated by stripping Caruso of his committee chairmanship and booting him out of his corner office into another space.
—Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 18 Aug. 2025
Romo had the more impressive make, booting one through from 57 yards.
—Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 11 Aug. 2025
Austin Mock, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2025
Upon booting up the game and working through a pretty robust character creator, players arrive in Lumiose City and are immediately ambushed by a content creator/social media manager working for the corporation Quasartico, Inc.
—Christopher Cruz, Rolling Stone, 24 Sep. 2025
BMCs also enable some of the most sensitive operations, such as reflashing the firmware for the UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface) that’s responsible for loading the server OS when booting.
—Dan Goodin, ArsTechnica, 24 Sep. 2025
An incredible series of plays, a last-gasp effort, and the fortuitous foot of Matt Prater, the field goal kicker who’d been in Buffalo no more than 100 hours, booting a 32-yarder for the win.
—Coy Wire, CNN Money, 8 Sep. 2025
Perez retaliated by stripping Caruso of his committee chairmanship and booting him out of his corner office into another space.
—Anthony Man, Sun Sentinel, 18 Aug. 2025
Romo had the more impressive make, booting one through from 57 yards.
—Zack Cox, Boston Herald, 11 Aug. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for booting
Verb
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However, his key mistakes included an interception, being sacked six times, and fumbling the ball away twice.—
Matthew Couden,
MSNBC Newsweek,
14 Oct. 2025
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There is no right moment, and the early scenes are about fumbling steps and the tentativeness of awkward new roles.—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
10 Oct. 2025
Verb
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Raking, blowing, and using a mower collection bag are useful for managing leaves on turf.—
Megan Hughes,
Better Homes & Gardens,
19 Oct. 2025
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Maybe Lewis wasn’t blowing smoke but telling the truth.—
Kirk Kenney,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
18 Oct. 2025
Verb
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The episode’s final moments are of Godolkin walking the campus, draped in a blanket, murdering a student and ready to enact his ultimate plan for the future of supes.—
Abbey White,
HollywoodReporter,
16 Oct. 2025
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Gregory Szugyi, who also goes by Gregory Dubelle, had been charged with murdering 36-year-old Antonio Poole in an April 2024 shooting on Kennedy Street in Oakland.—
Nate Gartrell,
Mercury News,
15 Oct. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Booting.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/booting. Accessed 22 Oct. 2025.
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