floundering

Verb

flounder (third-person singular simple present flounders, present participle floundering, simple past and past participle floundered)

1. (intransitive) To act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered.
   • He gave a good speech, but floundered when audience members asked questions he could not answer well.
2. (intransitive) To flop around as a fish out of water.
3. (intransitive) To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance.
   • Robert yanked Connie's leg vigorously, causing her to flounder and eventually fall.
4. To be in serious difficulty.
   • Meanwhile bus and tram competition was causing the Central London Railway to flounder after its early success, and as for the City & South London ... that had always floundered.2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, page 159

See all 7 meanings of flounder