bumbling
adjective
bum·bling
ˈbəm-b(ə-)liŋ 
: awkwardly blundering or faltering
a bumbling speaker
: prone to or marked by foolish mistakes
a bumbling attempt to fix the problem
… many Americans see the F.D.A. as bumbling and inefficient …—
Herbert Burkholz
Herbert Burkholz
bumblingly
adverb
… none of them truly wants him in her home while he tries, bumblingly, to get his act together …
—Laura Collins-Hughes
Laura Collins-Hughes
Examples of bumbling in a Sentence
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Presumably, the writers were excited by the general existence of a national maple syrup reserve and decided to leave behind the facts — documented in Netflix’s Dirty Money — in favor of a more conventional and also more limited variation on the bumbling small-town heist genre.
—Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Dec. 2024
Stephen poses as a bumbling old widower in need of a lightweight vacuum.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 11 Oct. 2024
Bernie looks and sounds like your basic bumbling small-screen patriarch — complete with slippers and Jesus sweater — until a trio of Russian handymen led by the villainous Piotr (Jan Bijovet) begin to steadily rip apart his home board by board and promptly take Bernie’s entire family hostage.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2024
Fairbairn culminated the bumbling drive by missing the 28-yard field goal attempt.
—Larry Holder, The Athletic, 24 Nov. 2024
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Daniel Fienberg, The Hollywood Reporter, 5 Dec. 2024
Stephen poses as a bumbling old widower in need of a lightweight vacuum.
—Amanda Whiting, Vulture, 11 Oct. 2024
Bernie looks and sounds like your basic bumbling small-screen patriarch — complete with slippers and Jesus sweater — until a trio of Russian handymen led by the villainous Piotr (Jan Bijovet) begin to steadily rip apart his home board by board and promptly take Bernie’s entire family hostage.
—Alison Foreman, IndieWire, 17 Sep. 2024
Fairbairn culminated the bumbling drive by missing the 28-yard field goal attempt.
—Larry Holder, The Athletic, 24 Nov. 2024
See all Example Sentences for bumbling
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Cite this Entry
“Bumbling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bumbling. Accessed 22 Dec. 2024.
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