fouled up

verb

past tense of foul up
1
as in fumbled
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way tried not to foul up the football play

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in stumbled
to make a mistake unfortunately, I fouled up and in my e-mail gave everyone the wrong date for the meeting

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

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.
Recent Examples of fouled up But their strategy was fouled up when the car’s occupants switched on the headlights, throwing a glare up the tote road along which the wardens had planned to sprint. — Dave Duffey, Outdoor Life, 26 Mar. 2026 Wild turkeys gobbled up Staten Island straphangers’ time on Monday, after a flock fouled up service on the Staten Island Railway. — Evan Simko-Bednarski, New York Daily News, 17 Mar. 2026 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
Recent Examples of Synonyms for fouled up
  1. fumbled
  2. stumbled
  3. blew
  4. slipped up
  5. screwed up
  6. tripped
  7. murdered
Verb
  • In the bathroom, my fingers fumbled in the inner pocket of my jacket, searching for the passport.
    — Ledio Cakaj, New Yorker, 22 Aug. 2026
  • Despite rebounding with the wildly entertaining F9 in 2021, the Fast franchise fumbled the 10th chapter, which underperformed at the box office and didn’t exactly get fans hyped for the follow-up.
    — Britt Hayes, Entertainment Weekly, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of fumbled
Verb
  • Then Sánchez’s eyes drifted up, his feet stumbled to a stop, and the ball bounced feet away from him on the turf.
    — Mitch Bannon, New York Times, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The 40-year-old woman stumbled, sustaining an injury, police said.
    — Meredith Deliso, ABC News, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of stumbled
Verb
  • Two exes alleged Watts blew past their boundaries to satisfy his own needs.
    — Cheyenne Roundtree, Rolling Stone, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Shakur’s killing on the Las Vegas Strip in 1996 blew these tensions wide open, though the case remained unsolved for decades.
    — Richard Winton, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of blew
Verb
  • The Iberians slipped up big time in their first match of the tournament, being shocked by Switzerland 1-0, bringing back ghosts of tournament failures past for Spanish fans.
    — Patrick Sung Cuadrado, CNN Money, 14 July 2026
  • Had Pep Guardiola’s side slipped up at a subdued Etihad, then Arsenal and Mikel Arteta could have won the title with victory over Burnley on Monday.
    — Sam Lee, New York Times, 13 May 2026
Definition of slipped up
Verb
  • Every time a player screwed up, the coaching staff and his teammates received a text message, calling out both the infraction and the guilty party.
    — Dana O’Neil, CNN Money, 14 Aug. 2026
  • That growth is mostly a testament to how screwed up our school bus system currently is.
    — Maggie McGrath, Forbes.com, 12 Aug. 2026
Definition of screwed up
Verb
  • The bear scratched his arm, and the victim tripped and injured his foot while trying to escape, according to Colorado Parks and Wildlife.
    — Jon Haworth, ABC News, 19 Aug. 2026
  • His starting wide receivers both blew their knees out before week five and his starting quarterback tripped on his kid's skateboard and dislocated his elbow.
    — Austin Perry OutKick, FOXNews.com, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of tripped
Verb
  • If the appeals court agrees, Patterson would only be the second woman to receive a full life sentence in Australia, after Katherine Knight, who murdered her de facto husband and cooked parts of his body.
    — Hilary Whiteman, CNN Money, 20 Aug. 2026
  • On August 4, 1892, Lizzie Borden’s father and stepmother, Andrew and Abby Borden, were murdered in the family’s home in Fall River, Massachusetts.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of murdered

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fouled
fouled up
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Cite this Entry

“Fouled up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fouled%20up. Accessed 26 Aug. 2026.

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