Word.ws English Dictionary

blunder

Syllables: blun·derUK/ˈblʌn.dəː//ˈblʌn.dɚ/

blunder noun: a clumsy or embarrassing mistake.

Noun

blunder (plural blunders)

  1. A clumsy or embarrassing mistake.
    • We could laugh at our scholastic blunders and our social faux pas's.1869, The Cornellian, volume 124, Secret Societies of Cornell University, page 353
    Synonyms:
    blooper
  2. A very bad move, usually caused by some tactical oversight.
  3. (obsolete) Confusion; bewilderment; trouble; disturbance; clamour.

Verb

blunder (third-person singular simple present blunders, present participle blundering, simple past and past participle blundered)

  1. (intransitive) To make a big mistake, especially when it is careless or stupid.
    • to blunder in preparing a medical prescription
    1. (intransitive) To make a bad move, especially caused by tactical oversight.
    2. (intransitive, transitive) To lose a piece due to having made a bad move [with the piece lost].
      • blunder a rook
    3. (intransitive, transitive) To overlook the possibility of, or end up in, a specified undesirable situation after making a bad move.
      • blunder a draw
      • blunder a mate in one
  2. (figuratively, intransitive, sometimes) To move in an unsteady way.
    • I was never distinguished for address, and have often even blundered in making my bow.October 6, 1759, Oliver Goldsmith, The Bee No. 1
    • blunders on, and staggers every pace1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC
  3. (intransitive) To enter a place or become involved in a difficult situation by mistake.
    • He and I had blundered into the middle of a gang fight once and I saw him shank a guy-stuck homeboy in the chest and strolled off cool as you please.2007 May 6, Steve Geng, “First Chapter: ‘Thick as Thieves’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Jun 2015
  4. (obsolete, transitive) To do or treat in a blundering manner; to confuse.
    • He blunders and confounds all these together.1676, Edward Stillingfleet, A Defence of the Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome
    • Were a Diſpute to be manag'd purely for a Trial of Skill; then to ſhuffle and digreſs from the Matter in hand, ſo as by any means whatſoever to blunder an Adverſary, and ſtop the Progreſs of his Argument, were a more pardonable Piece of Folly.1714, Humphry Ditton, A discourse concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ

blunder meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

blunder in Hindi

to blunder, err
चूकना cūknā

blunder in Tamil

பிசகு, பெருந் தவறு, பெருந்தவறு, பெரும் பிழை

blunder in Marathi

mistake
घोडचूक ghoḍcūk
To make a stupid mistake
घोडचूक करणे ghoḍcūk karṇe

blunder in Urdu

غلطی, خطا, لغزش, غلطی کرنا, لغزش کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
blunder in Bengali
ভুল, অসতর্ক পদক্ষেপ
blunder in Malayalam
അബദ്ധം, ബുദ്ധിമോശം
blunder in Kannada
ತಪ್ಪುಮಾರ್ಗ, ತಪ್ಪುವಿಧಾನ, ಪ್ರಮಾದ, ಅವಿವೇಕ
blunder in Punjabi
غلطی ġalat̤ī
blunder in Sanskrit
स्रेधति sredhati
blunder in Indonesian
kesalahan, kecerobohan, blunder
blunder in Thai
เพลี่ยงพล่ำ, พลาดท่า, เสียที

Examples of blunder in a sentence

  • The match was not even close; the IM made amateurish blunders and ended up getting adopted.
  • His dire blunder allowed her to checkmate him with her next move.
  • The merits of the case favored the plaintiffs, but their procedural blunders set them back.

All 37 example sentences with blunder

Synonyms of blunder

Forms of blunder

Noun
pluralblunders
Verb
third-person singular presentblunders
present participleblundering
past participleblundered
pastblundered

Plural of blunder: blunders

Origin of blunder

Inherited from Middle English blundren, blondren (verb) and blunder, blonder (“disturbance, strife”), from the verb; partly from Middle English blondren, a frequentative form of Middle English blonden, blanden ("to mix; mix up"; corresponding to blend + -er); and partly from Middle English blundren, a frequentative form of Middle English blunden (“to stagger; stumble”), from Old Norse blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”). Cognates include Norwegian blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”), dialectal Swedish blundra (“to act blindly or rashly”), Danish blunde (“to blink”) or blunde (“to take a nap”), Icelandic blunda (“to nap; doze”). Related to English blind.

Words formed from blunder

Words that rhyme with blunder

2 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about blunder

What does blunder mean?
Blunder means a clumsy or embarrassing mistake.
What is blunder in Hindi?
Blunder in Hindi is चूकना (cūknā). See Blunder meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is blunder?
Blunder can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce blunder?
Blunder is pronounced /ˈblʌn.dəː/ (UK).
What is the plural of blunder?
The plural of blunder is blunders.

Words near blunder in the dictionary

  1. Blundellian
  2. Blundellians
  3. Blundells
  4. Blundellsands
  5. Blunden
  6. blunder
  7. blunder years
  8. blunder'd
  9. blunderbush
  10. blunderbushes
  11. blunderbuss

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: blunder (page history and authors); चूकना (Hindi) (page history and authors); blunder (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); blunder (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); blunder (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); blunder (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); blunder (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); غلطی (Punjabi) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-blunder.ogg.

Cite this entry: “blunder.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/blunder. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.