bun·gle

(bŭng′gəl)

v. bun·gled, bun·gling, bun·gles

v.tr.

To carry out badly or ruin through ineptitude; botch. See Synonyms at botch.

v.intr.

To work or act ineptly or inefficiently.

A clumsy or inept performance; a botch: made a bungle of the case due to inexperience.

[Perhaps of Scandinavian origin.]

bun′gler n.

bun′gling·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

bungler - someone who makes mistakes because of incompetence

blunderer, botcher, bumbler, fuckup, fumbler, sad sack, stumbler, butcher

incompetent, incompetent person - someone who is not competent to take effective action

bungler

noun incompetent, blunderer, muddler, fumbler, botcher, duffer (informal), butterfingers (informal), lubber Why is this lying bungler still in the fire service?

Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002

bungler

noun

A clumsy person:

blunderer, botcher, dub, foozler.

Slang: screwup.

Idiom: bull in a china shop.

Translations

pasticcione

bungler

[ˈbʌŋgləʳ] N → chapucero/a m/f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

bungler

[ˈbʌŋglə^r] n → bon(ne) à rien m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

bungler

n → Nichtskönner m, → Stümper m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

bungler

[ˈbʌŋgləʳ] n → pasticcione/a

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

Also, it has meant death for many a bungler. But this boy could do it--seventy feet I know he cleared in one dive from the rigging--clenched hands on chest, head thrown back, sailing more like a bird, upward and out, and out and down, body flat on the air so that if it struck the surface in that position it would be split in half like a herring.

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"Lecoq was a miserable bungler," he said, in an angry voice; "he had only one thing to recommend him, and that was his energy.

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Lop-Ear, struggling with the second puppy, scowled at me and intimated by a variety of sounds the different kinds of a fool and a bungler that I was.

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"You were a fool and a bungler not to make sure of it.

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I had done it with a heavy foot, and by this time was in a rage with both him and myself, but I always was a bungler, and, having adopted this means in a hurry, I could at the time see no other easy way out.

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As the immortal Alexis Soyer can make more delicious soup for a half-penny than an ignorant cook can concoct with pounds of vegetables and meat, so a skilful artist will make a few simple and pleasing phrases go farther than ever so much substantial benefit-stock in the hands of a mere bungler. Nay, we know that substantial benefits often sicken some stomachs; whereas, most will digest any amount of fine words, and be always eager for more of the same food.

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The Bank fleet pass good seamanship in silence; but a bungler is jeered all along the line.

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I did try, but was presently swept off the stool and denominated "a little bungler." Being pushed unceremoniously to one side--which was precisely what I wished--he usurped my place, and proceeded to accompany himself: for he could play as well as sing.

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She had once heard an enthusiastic musician, out of patience with a gifted bungler, declare that a fine voice is really an obstacle to singing properly; and it occurred to her that it might perhaps be equally true that a beautiful face is an obstacle to the acquisition of charming manners.

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"Am I such a farcical bungler, Watson, that I should erect an obvious dummy, and expect that some of the sharpest men in Europe would be deceived by it.

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Reduced to itself, abandoned by the other arts, because human thought is abandoning it, it summons bunglers in place of artists.

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Only a single antagonist could face him at a time upon the narrow stairway, he had the advantage of position and of the defensive, and he was a master of the sword while they were clumsy bunglers by comparison.

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