as in mistake
an unintentional departure from truth or accuracy
a newsreader who memorably dropped a clanger when she referred to Robert Burns as an English poet
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Recent Examples of clanger
Pope dropped clangers earlier in the season and weak concessions against Manchester City and Qarabag preceded Everton.
—
Chris Waugh, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2026
In its two most recent games, its goalkeeper, André Onana, has made calamitous clangers, leading to easy goals for the opposition.
—Alex Tabet, NBC News, 15 Dec. 2024
Another game against Chelsea and another clanger for Lloris - this time during the Lilywhites tenure at Wembley.
—SI.com, 30 Sep. 2019
The veined wing of the clanger cicada kills bacteria solely through its physical structure — one of the first natural surfaces found to do so.
—Trevor Quirk, Scientific American, 5 Mar. 2013
Chris Waugh, New York Times, 2 Mar. 2026
In its two most recent games, its goalkeeper, André Onana, has made calamitous clangers, leading to easy goals for the opposition.
—Alex Tabet, NBC News, 15 Dec. 2024
Another game against Chelsea and another clanger for Lloris - this time during the Lilywhites tenure at Wembley.
—SI.com, 30 Sep. 2019
The veined wing of the clanger cicada kills bacteria solely through its physical structure — one of the first natural surfaces found to do so.
—Trevor Quirk, Scientific American, 5 Mar. 2013
Recent Examples of Synonyms for clanger
Noun
-
Both Velez and Farbstein gave me the 411 on what traveler mistakes can back up the security line.—
Amelia McBride,
Travel + Leisure,
17 May 2026
-
The third mistake is using wine that is not cold enough.—
Noel Burgess,
Forbes.com,
16 May 2026
Noun
-
For the game, for the third straight game, the Lakers made bunches of mistakes that became bunches of baskets, this time 17 blunders that became 30 Oklahoma City points.—
Los Angeles Times,
Los Angeles Times,
10 May 2026
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In a recent tactical blunder, the first lady’s farcical rollout of a teacher robot made unusually clear what this administration really thinks of children, teachers and schools.—
Randi Weingarten,
Fortune,
6 May 2026
Noun
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The Knights fell behind 3-0 after Canyon’s Mia Saenz hit a two-run home run and added another run on an error.—
Eric Sondheimer,
Los Angeles Times,
15 May 2026
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Instead, Adames committed an inexcusable baserunning error by forgetting how many outs there were in the seventh inning, allowing Ohtani to complete seven scoreless innings as the Giants’ three-game winning streak was snapped.—
Justice delos Santos,
Mercury News,
14 May 2026
Cite this Entry
“Clanger.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/clanger. Accessed 18 May. 2026.
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