as in fumbled
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way
bungled the job the first time she tried to do it
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Recent Examples of bungled
The Chiefs bungled it in more ways than one, more than that fourth-down call, even if the most glaring is the decision to settle for three.
—
Sam McDowell 4, Kansas City Star, 4 Nov. 2025
One day, calling kids up to get pizza for a class lunch, the teacher repeatedly and purposely bungled her name.
—Borys Kit, HollywoodReporter, 30 Sep. 2025
But Denver bungled five — five — chances to extend their lead to two scores in the second half after taking resounding control of the game in the second half.
—Luca Evans, Denver Post, 22 Sep. 2025
At the time, the district bungled its communication about Stacy's pay.
—Jolene Almendarez, Cincinnati Enquirer, 16 Apr. 2025
See All Example Sentences for bungled
Recent Examples of Synonyms for bungled
Verb
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Ball security The Hurricanes have fumbled the ball four times in the past two games and lost two of them — one apiece by Malachi Toney (first round against Texas A&M) and Fletcher (quarterfinal against Ohio State).—
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Kennedy fumbled in his pocket and pulled out his phone, the source of the noise.—
Verb
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Sure enough, Rico Dowdle slipped (again), botched the pitchback (which Bryce Young tried to pick up rather than immediately dive on, unfortunately channeling Cam Newton in the Super Bowl) and the Bucs recovered.—
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Gonzalez botched a rebound under the Utah basket but redeemed himself by immediately drawing a charge.—
Verb
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Princely Umanmielen sat at his locker in complete silence, still in his full uniform, roughly 30 minutes after the final whistle blew on Saturday.—
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Green Bay blew a 21-6 lead in the fourth quarter of a wild 31-27 loss to the Chicago Bears in the wild-card round of the playoffs on Saturday night.—
Cite this Entry
“Bungled.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/bungled. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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