foul-up

(foul′ŭp′)

1. A condition of confusion caused by mistakes or poor judgment.

2. A mechanical failure.

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.

foul′-up`

1. a condition of disorder brought on by inefficiency or stupidity.

2. failure of a mechanical part to operate correctly.

[1940–45, Amer.]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

foul-up - an embarrassing mistake

blooper, blunder, boner, boo-boo, botch, bungle, flub, fuckup, pratfall, bloomer

error, fault, mistake - a wrong action attributable to bad judgment or ignorance or inattention; "he made a bad mistake"; "she was quick to point out my errors"; "I could understand his English in spite of his grammatical faults"

bobble - the momentary juggling of a batted or thrown baseball; "the second baseman made a bobble but still had time to throw the runner out"

snafu - an acronym often used by soldiers in World War II: situation normal all fucked up

spectacle - a blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase `make a spectacle of' yourself

bull - a serious and ludicrous blunder; "he made a bad bull of the assignment"

fumble, muff - (sports) dropping the ball

fluff - a blunder (especially an actor's forgetting the lines)

faux pas, gaffe, slip, solecism, gaucherie - a socially awkward or tactless act

howler - a glaring blunder

clanger - a conspicuous mistake whose effects seem to reverberate; "he dropped a clanger"

misstep, trip-up, stumble, trip - an unintentional but embarrassing blunder; "he recited the whole poem without a single trip"; "he arranged his robes to avoid a trip-up later"; "confusion caused his unfortunate misstep"

foul-up

noun

A ruinous state of disorder:

botch, mess, muddle, shambles.

Informal: hash.

Slang: screwup, snafu.

Translations

foul-up

[ˈfaʊlʌp] N → desastre m

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

References in periodicals archive

Despite the conundrum Davis found herself in, she could have saved herself a degree of heartache had she not commingled her credit (see foul-up No.

Credit Busters

Owen even found himself the subject of one foul-up. Ex-England star Steve Hodge said of Owen: "Michael is not a diver.

Football's like a big market place, and people go to the market every day to buy their vegetablesaand other hilarious gaffes

To make one gargantuan foul-up may be regarded as a misfortune, but to make continual foul-ups looks like being beyondcareless.

Don't be so hard on yourself - it's not as if you're Chris Grayling; MY SHOUT

Admin foul-ups have forced university manager Jackie Sayce, 40, to visit different NHS trusts for three years.

Kneedless trip; Mum's left joint treated in Cardiff .. and right one 55 miles away

ENTERTAINMENT Angus Deayton hosts this celebration of TV bloopers and festive foul-ups. Highlights include a nativity created with radishes, and the mania for Cabbage Patch Dolls.

MONDAY; TV CHOICE DECEMBER 29

CHRISTMAS EPIC FAILS ITV 9pm Angus Deayton hosts this celebration of TV bloopers and festive foul-ups. Highlights include a nativity created with radishes, and the crazy mania for Cabbage Patch dolls (right).

3TO SEE; monday December 29

Minot has had its share of bad publicity about nuclear weapons foul-ups, followed by hard questions from Washington about why it and other nuclear bases are caught in a recurring cycle of trouble and recovery, AP reported.

Trail of nuclear woes began at North Dakota base

Following that, Department Foreign Affairs officials and senior civil servants in the Department of the Taoiseach held a series of meetings to prevent a repeat "foul-ups".

Ban on Soviet planes after disaster averted

The insane inking on Carl McCoid - for I feel he should be named and shamed - is the latest in a long list of notable tattoo foul-ups, and a burning example of a trend that leaves me wringing my hands and asking the world why it's happening.

TATT'S THE LIMIT

As to agency effectiveness, in the past few months, we have had one story after another about foul-ups at the Department of Veterans Affairs--of disability applications taking more than a year to process and other similar outrages.

In praise of better government

But since Belichick believes how you practice is how you play, no one batted an eye when the offense was ordered to run laps on a couple of occasions yesterday following foul-ups.

Ochocinco's number up

But while the palace and the DepEd is concerned over possible foul-ups at schools during term opening, student groups, parents and educators are looking at the bigger picture, particularly the perennial increases in the cost of education.

Preparations in order for first day of school academic year