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
Recent Examples on the Web
So there is this tradition of the bumbling jerk in a way, that is also a hero in some respect, some of that is just the nature of narrative.
—Maelle Beauget-Uhl, Forbes.com, 24 May 2025
But O’Connor’s the main man in The Mastermind, Reichardt’s movie about a bumbling art thief.
—Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 23 May 2025
Their son, Dylan, was snatched from his day care years earlier and rescued, his bumbling kidnappers imprisoned and eventually paroled.
—Hamilton Cain, New York Times, 17 May 2025
Except, where this troublemaker is concerned, Stitch remains animated, while practically all the other characters are played by real people — including Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen, in a pair of great physical comedy performances, as two bumbling aliens in human disguise.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 20 May 2025
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Maelle Beauget-Uhl, Forbes.com, 24 May 2025
But O’Connor’s the main man in The Mastermind, Reichardt’s movie about a bumbling art thief.
—Baz Bamigboye, Deadline, 23 May 2025
Their son, Dylan, was snatched from his day care years earlier and rescued, his bumbling kidnappers imprisoned and eventually paroled.
—Hamilton Cain, New York Times, 17 May 2025
Except, where this troublemaker is concerned, Stitch remains animated, while practically all the other characters are played by real people — including Zach Galifianakis and Billy Magnussen, in a pair of great physical comedy performances, as two bumbling aliens in human disguise.
—Peter Debruge, Variety, 20 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for bumbling
Cite this Entry
“Bumbling.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/bumbling. Accessed 6 Jun. 2025.
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