as in fumbled
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way
I've somehow buggered up the program again
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Recent Examples of Synonyms for buggered (up)
Verb
-
Cornell fumbled with Mercader’s clothing, trying to find them.—
Josh Ireland,
Harpers Magazine,
24 Feb. 2026 -
When Kahn fumbled Rivaldo’s shot from the edge of the box, Ronaldo was on hand to convert the rebound.—
Michael Cox,
New York Times,
15 Feb. 2026
Verb
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In a sign that the dinosaur fossil market remains strong, a rare young dinosaur skeleton blew past its $4 million to $6 million Sotheby’s preauction estimate in July and ended up fetching more than $30 million in a bidding frenzy, including fees and costs.—
ABC News,
ABC News,
2 Mar. 2026
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During Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June last year, the US blew through about a quarter of its THAAD missile interceptors.—
Mostafa Salem,
CNN Money,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
-
That might be kind of screwed up.—
Patrick Saunders,
Denver Post,
21 Feb. 2026
-
That seems like our priorities are screwed up.—
Terry Gross,
NPR,
19 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Karaban almost had a costly turnover on an inbound play with 14 seconds left, but the Huskies fouled up three and Mulready split his free throw attempts, setting up the game-clinching freebies from the Huskies’ captain.—
Joe Arruda,
Hartford Courant,
15 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Regardless, some of today’s foremost directors are channeling the days before bingeing applied to content, before art was dubbed content — back when all audiences needed was slo-mo running on a beach.—
Jami Ganz,
New York Daily News,
28 Feb. 2026
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And Paramount’s desire to buy WBD’s linear cable channels derailed the plan that was in the works to spin them off into a standalone company dubbed Discovery Global.—
Brent Lang,
Variety,
27 Feb. 2026
Verb
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They were met with savage brutality, with as many as 30,000 murdered by their own government.—
Arkansas Online,
Arkansas Online,
3 Mar. 2026
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Grace, who suffered the trauma of seeing her mother murdered right in front of her as a teen, protects Emily and tries to help her escape, only for the little girl to morph into a T-Virus monster that Leon has to incapacitate.—
Jennifer Maas,
Variety,
2 Mar. 2026
Verb
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The girl in that story had her life ruined two decades ago.—
Amy Wallace,
Mercury News,
25 Feb. 2026
-
Trump suggested that Democrats ruined the economy and drove up costs for Americans.—
Kevin Rector,
Los Angeles Times,
25 Feb. 2026
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Cite this Entry
“Buggered (up).” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/buggered%20%28up%29. Accessed 3 Mar. 2026.
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