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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

blunder.

A clumsy or embarrassing mistake.

7 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun/ˈblʌn.dəː/Received-Pronunciation[ˈblʌ̹n.dəː]Received-Pronunciation/ˈblʌn.dɚ/General-American[ˈblʌ̈n.dɚ] ~ [ˈblʌ̈n.dɹ̩]General-American

  1. A clumsy or embarrassing mistake.

  2. A very bad move, usually caused by some tactical oversight.

  3. Confusion; bewilderment; trouble; disturbance; clamour.

    obsolete
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English blundren, blondren (verb) and blunder, blonder (“disturbance, strife”), from the verb; partly from Middle English blondren, a frequentative form of Middle English blonden, blanden ("to mix; mix up"; corresponding to blend + -er); and partly from Middle English blundren, a frequentative form of Middle English blunden (“to stagger; stumble”), from Old Norse blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”). Cognates include Norwegian blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”), dialectal Swedish blundra (“to act blindly or rashly”), Danish blunde (“to blink”) or blunde (“to take a nap”), Icelandic blunda (“to nap; doze”). Related to English blind.

verb/ˈblʌn.dəː/Received-Pronunciation[ˈblʌ̹n.dəː]Received-Pronunciation/ˈblʌn.dɚ/General-American[ˈblʌ̈n.dɚ] ~ [ˈblʌ̈n.dɹ̩]General-American

  1. To make a big mistake, especially when it is careless or stupid.

    intransitive
    to blunder in preparing a medical prescription

  2. To make a big mistake, especially when it is careless or stupid. To make a bad move, especially caused by tactical oversight.

    intransitive

  3. To make a big mistake, especially when it is careless or stupid. To lose a piece due to having made a bad move [with the piece lost].

    intransitive · transitive
    blunder a rook

  4. To make a big mistake, especially when it is careless or stupid. To overlook the possibility of, or end up in, a specified undesirable situation after making a bad move.

    intransitive · transitive
    blunder a draw
    blunder a mate in one

  5. To move in an unsteady way.

    figuratively · intransitive · sometimes

  6. To enter a place or become involved in a difficult situation by mistake.

    intransitive

  7. To do or treat in a blundering manner; to confuse.

    obsolete · transitive
Where this word comes from

Inherited from Middle English blundren, blondren (verb) and blunder, blonder (“disturbance, strife”), from the verb; partly from Middle English blondren, a frequentative form of Middle English blonden, blanden ("to mix; mix up"; corresponding to blend + -er); and partly from Middle English blundren, a frequentative form of Middle English blunden (“to stagger; stumble”), from Old Norse blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”). Cognates include Norwegian blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”), dialectal Swedish blundra (“to act blindly or rashly”), Danish blunde (“to blink”) or blunde (“to take a nap”), Icelandic blunda (“to nap; doze”). Related to English blind.

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.