fouling up

verb

present participle of foul up
1
as in fumbling
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way tried not to foul up the football play

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in stumbling
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

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fouling up
  1. fumbling
  2. stumbling
  3. screwing up
  4. slipping up
  5. blowing
  6. tripping
  7. mucking up
Verb
  • Most of the world was fumbling and scared, and Fauci seemed to have some idea of what to do.
    — Amy Davidson Sorkin, New Yorker, 1 Aug. 2026
  • Achane, the Miami Dolphins’ starting tailback, was referring to Ollie Gordon II fumbling the ball away in Wednesday practice, the team’s first of training camp.
    — Omar Kelly, Miami Herald, 30 July 2026
Definition of fumbling
Verb
  • The most underachieving team on the Los Angeles sports landscape is embarrassingly stumbling through another season.
    — Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 29 July 2026
  • This can help prevent the patient from stumbling across information that’s difficult to understand, potentially upsetting, or just plain irrelevant to their own situation.
    — Nicole Pajer, PEOPLE, 28 July 2026
Definition of stumbling
Verb
  • So not screwing up Spider-Man is about putting a beating heart at the center rather than a bunch of spectacle.
    — Chris Lee, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2026
  • The fear of failure can do as much harm as actually screwing up.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2026
Definition of screwing up
Verb
  • Arsenal are firmly in title-chasing mode and goal difference could still prove crucial, despite Manchester City slipping up against Everton on Monday.
    — Abdul Rehman, New York Times, 7 May 2026
  • But knowing Olson’s proclivity for slipping up in hysterical fashion made the match that much more appealing.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 7 May 2026
Definition of slipping up
Verb
  • This typically occurs when a vent is blowing cold air onto your thermostat, resulting in a temperature reading that is too low.
    — Brandee Gruener, Southern Living, 31 July 2026
  • The Vikings defense’s blowing a coverage happened so rarely that seeing it during last summer’s joint practices with the New England Patriots felt like spotting an eclipse.
    — Alec Lewis, New York Times, 31 July 2026
Definition of blowing
Verb
  • Additionally, most air bathtubs require around 110 volts of power, and some may require a 15-amp dedicated circuit to avoid tripping the breakers in your breaker box.
    — BestReviews, Mercury News, 29 July 2026
  • On-site battery storage buys operators time to ramp power safely without tripping local substations.
    — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 27 July 2026
Definition of tripping
Verb
  • Amid the memory shortage that's mucking up component prices globally, at least Qualcomm has some promising news for folks hoping to pay less for a daily driver.
    — Florence Ion, PC Magazine, 7 May 2026
  • At least not Will Welch, GQ’s longstanding editor-in-chief and global editorial director, who was absolutely zen about the threat of an atmospheric river mucking up the mag’s Men of the Year celebration last night.
    — Chris Gardner, HollywoodReporter, 14 Nov. 2025
Definition of mucking up
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.

Browse Nearby Words

fouling
fouling up
foully
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Cite this Entry

“Fouling up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fouling%20up. Accessed 6 Aug. 2026.

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