as in mistake
an unintentional departure from truth or accuracy
when she was told her information was wrong, she apologized for the flub and immediately corrected it
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
1
as in to fumble
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way
added too much flour and flubbed the gravy
Synonyms & Similar Words
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in to stumble
to make a mistake
at some point in your training you're going to flub, so don't let it rattle you
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of flub
Jordan Novet, CNBC, 22 May 2026
An inning after his defensive flub, Hernández connected on another breaking ball, lining a base hit to left and hustling in to second base to set up what would be Call’s go-ahead hit.
—Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 15 May 2026
Max Bultman, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2026
Then, just to flub any chance for enjoying some dumb fun with a skilled cast hamming it up, the sloppy story grinds the all-too-predictable, all-too-lame whodunit to a halt, as well.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 18 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for flub
Noun
There have been some embarrassing flubs.
—Jordan Novet, CNBC, 22 May 2026
An inning after his defensive flub, Hernández connected on another breaking ball, lining a base hit to left and hustling in to second base to set up what would be Call’s go-ahead hit.
—Fabian Ardaya, New York Times, 15 May 2026
Verb
With Detroit leading 2-1 in the third, Justin Faulk flubbed a breakout pass up the wall to David Perron, who couldn’t get it out, allowing Boston to extend an offensive zone shift and quickly set up Elias Lindholm on the weak side.
—Max Bultman, New York Times, 22 Mar. 2026
Then, just to flub any chance for enjoying some dumb fun with a skilled cast hamming it up, the sloppy story grinds the all-too-predictable, all-too-lame whodunit to a halt, as well.
—Ben Travers, IndieWire, 18 Mar. 2026
See All Example Sentences for flub
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flub
Noun
-
There are always mistakes on the petitions.—
Kevin Rennie,
Hartford Courant,
6 June 2026
-
Wembanyama rectified that mistake on the next play.—
Mark Medina,
Forbes.com,
6 June 2026
Verb
-
During Miami’s two periods of special teams work Malik Washington fumbled his first kickoff return, but most of the other punt returners and kickoff returned fielded their attempts well.—
Omar Kelly,
Miami Herald,
2 June 2026
-
But then again, neither is the Bears fumbling and bumbling.—
Jon Greenberg,
New York Times,
2 June 2026
Verb
-
Chip stocks, however, stumbled; bitcoin is hovering at its weakest since the war began, private credit is throwing off sparks again — and a flesh-eating parasite has turned up in Texas.—
Anniek Bao,
CNBC,
5 June 2026
-
The goal of the game is to land the stunt successfully without stumbling.—
Skyler Caruso,
PEOPLE,
4 June 2026
Noun
-
Read on to see the beauty blunders, silly styling and overall head-to-toe outfits that these stars regret.—
Tanisha Bhat,
PEOPLE,
9 June 2026
-
The base-running blunder by Alcántara, a prospect acquired in the Anthony Rizzo trade with the New York Yankees at the 2021 trade deadline, is just one example of how this team is pressing.—
Patrick Mooney,
New York Times,
8 June 2026
Verb
-
In the Bay Area, fire and police departments in San Jose, Oakland and San Francisco have blown past their overtime budgets by tens of millions of dollars in recent years.—
Ethan Varian,
Mercury News,
9 June 2026
-
Each basket drew a huge applause from the championship-hungry Garden crowd, including his slam in the final minutes of the first half after blowing by unanimous Defensive Player of the Year Victory Wembanyama.—
Fiifi Frimpong,
New York Daily News,
9 June 2026
Verb
-
Other common soccer penalties include tripping, kicking, holding or pulling jerseys, pushing or charging players, and dangerous plays like high kicks or kicking near another player's head.—
Irene Wright,
USA Today,
9 June 2026
-
Britain’s Katie Boulter and Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez tripped over Lacoste signs during their early round matches.—
Lev Akabas,
Sportico.com,
7 June 2026
Noun
-
Mexico opened the scoring in the ninth minute when Quiñones capitalized on a defensive error by South Africa and fired a shot down the middle, between the legs of goalkeeper Ronwen Williams.—
Eduard Cauich,
Los Angeles Times,
12 June 2026
-
As each flaw and error in the early development of vaccines became clear, researchers and practitioners responded, fixing problems as they were identified.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
11 June 2026
Verb
-
Rupcich, a career guard with some right tackle experience, rotated in at center with the second-team offense and botched a snap.—
Andrew Callahan,
Boston Herald,
9 June 2026
-
Atlanta was out-everythinged in an 83-71 loss to the Indiana Fever on Thursday, botching a chance at a statement game.—
Brian Hamilton,
New York Times,
5 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Flub.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flub. Accessed 12 Jun. 2026.
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