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Verb: fumble  fúm-bul
  1. Feel about uncertainly or blindly
    "She fumbled for her glasses in the darkness of the bedroom";
    - grope
     
  2. Make one's way clumsily or blindly
    "He fumbled towards the door";
    - blunder
     
  3. Handle clumsily
     
  4. Make a mess of, destroy or ruin
    "I fumbled the dinner and we had to eat out";
    - botch, bodge [Brit, informal], bumble, botch up, muff [informal], blow, flub [N. Amer, informal], screw up [informal], spoil, muck up [informal], bungle, fluff [informal], bobble [N. Amer], mishandle, louse up [informal], foul up, mess up, butcher, goof up [informal], cock up [Brit, informal], balls up [informal], make a hash of [informal]
     
  5. (baseball) drop, juggle or fail to play cleanly a grounder
    "fumble a grounder"
Noun: fumble  fúm-bul
  1. (sport) dropping the ball
    - muff [informal]

Derived forms: fumbled, fumbles, fumbling

See also: grope for

Type of: bloomer [informal], blooper [N. Amer, informal], blue [Austral, NZ, informal], blunder, boner [N. Amer, informal], boob [Brit, informal], boo-boo [informal], botch, bungle, fail, flub [N. Amer, informal], foul-up, go wrong, goof [informal], handle, look for, miscarry, palm, pass, play, pratfall [informal], search, seek

Encyclopedia: Fumble