flounder.
A European species of flatfish having dull brown colouring with reddish-brown blotches; fluke, European flounder (Platichthys flesus).
Meaning & usage
A European species of flatfish having dull brown colouring with reddish-brown blotches; fluke, European flounder (Platichthys flesus).
Any of various flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae or Bothidae.
A bootmaker's tool for crimping boot fronts.
Where this word comes from
From Middle English flowndre, from Anglo-Norman floundre, from Old Northern French flondre, from Old Norse flyðra, from Proto-Germanic *flunþrijǭ. Cognate with Danish flynder, German Flunder, Swedish flundra.
To act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered.
He gave a good speech, but floundered when audience members asked questions he could not answer well.
To flop around as a fish out of water.
To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance.
Robert yanked Connie's leg vigorously, causing her to flounder and eventually fall.
To be in serious difficulty.
Where this word comes from
Possibly from the noun. Probably a blend of flounce + founder or a blend of founder + blunder or from Dutch flodderen (“wade”). See other terms beginning with fl, such as flutter, flitter, float, flap, flub, flip.
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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.