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

bumblingly adverb

… none of them truly wants him in her home while he tries, bumblingly, to get his act together …

—Laura Collins-Hughes

Examples of bumbling in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

His high-octane style and brash physical comedy complement Momoa’s take on Garrett, a bumbling championship gamer living in the shadow of his glory days. —Lovia Gyarkye, HollywoodReporter, 2 Apr. 2025

The men in their lives are bumbling, terrible or just ineffectual. —Nina Metz, Chicago Tribune, 1 Apr. 2025

As always, Gromit plays detective and action hero while the bumbling Wallace is just lucky to be along for the ride. —Jeremy Fassler, Vulture, 2 Mar. 2025

Tough, shrewd, and bursting with Machiavellian ambition, Lucky is also fiercely loyal to Baba and his bumbling offspring. —Judy Berman, TIME, 6 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1660, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for bumbling

• crumbling
• fumbling
• grumbling
• humbling
• mumbling
• rumbling
• stumbling
• tumbling