Word.ws English Dictionary

fumbling

fumbling is the present participle and gerund of fumble.

Meaning of fumble

Verb

fumble (third-person singular simple present fumbles, present participle fumbling, simple past and past participle fumbled)

  1. (intransitive, transitive) To handle nervously or awkwardly.
    • Waiting for the interview, he fumbled with his tie.
  2. (intransitive, transitive) To grope awkwardly in trying to find something
    • He fumbled for his keys.
    Synonyms:
    grubble
  3. (intransitive) To blunder uncertainly.
    • He fumbled through his prepared speech.
  4. To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly.
    • to fumble for an excuse
  5. (intransitive, transitive) To drop a ball or a baton etc. by accident.
    • Henderson's best strike on goal saw goalkeeper Kingson uncomfortably fumble his measured shot around the post.2010 December 28, Owen Phillips, “Sunderland 0 - 2 Blackpool”, in BBC
  6. To handle much; to play childishly; to turn over and over.
    • I saw him fumble with the sheets, and play with flowers.1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...

See all 10 meanings of fumble

Noun

fumbling (plural fumblings)

  1. An instance of clumsiness, especially of the hands or fingers.
    • From the beginning her mini-campaign, with its many missteps and fumblings, seem mired in confusion.2009 January 25, Sam Tanenhaus, “A Fumbled Handoff of the Torch”, in New York Times

Forms of fumbling

pluralfumblings

Phrases with fumbling

Questions about fumbling

What does fumbling mean?
Fumbling means an instance of clumsiness, especially of the hands or fingers.
What is fumbling the present participle and gerund of?
Fumbling is the present participle and gerund of fumble.
What part of speech is fumbling?
Fumbling is a noun.
What is the plural of fumbling?
The plural of fumbling is fumblings.

Words near fumbling in the dictionary

  1. fumblest
  2. fumbleth
  3. fumblier
  4. fumbliest
  5. fumblin'
  6. fumbling
  7. fumbling the bag
  8. fumblingly
  9. fumblingness
  10. fumblings
  11. fumbly

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fumbling (page history and authors); fumble (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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Cite this entry: “fumbling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/fumbling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.