1
as in fumbled
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way
added too much flour and flubbed the gravy
Synonyms & Similar Words
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in stumbled
to make a mistake
at some point in your training you're going to flub, so don't let it rattle you
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of flubbed
The newspaper industry, again and again, has flubbed its chance to propel itself into the future.
—
David Wingrave, Harpers Magazine, 24 Oct. 2025
The comedian eventually flubbed a line and broke into laughter while performing the sketch on live TV.
—Wesley Stenzel, Entertainment Weekly, 10 Oct. 2025
The Padres added a run against Diamondbacks starter Zac Gallen in the fifth when Machado walked, Bogaerts volleyed his second single into right field, Sheets reached on a fielder’s choice in which the Diamondbacks flubbed a catch and Jake Cronenworth walked.
—Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 27 Sep. 2025
Just as Alexis Bellino flubbed her second chance by aligning herself too closely with Johnny J, an Ed Hardy snapback that refuses to die, Gretchen is ruining hers by trying to relitigate things from the Obama Administration.
—Brian Moylan, Vulture, 5 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for flubbed
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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Naumov and Torgashev moved onto the podium after several other contenders stumbled Saturday.—
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On New Year’s Eve, 1962, Weir stumbled upon Dana Morgan’s Music Store in Palo Alto, where Jerry Garcia taught guitar.—
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.—
Verb
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Dellandrea was injured in the Sharks’ game on Tuesday against the Columbus Blue Jackets as his right leg struck the post after he was inadvertently tripped while driving to the net.—
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Our last game against Utah, that’s what tripped us up on the road.—
Cite this Entry
“Flubbed.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/flubbed. Accessed 13 Jan. 2026.
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