noun
Meaning 1
A confusion; a jumble.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
bumble
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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/ˈbʌmbəl/
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US: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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Northern-England: /ˈbʊmbəl/
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rhymes with -ʌmbəl
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CMU ARPABET: B AH1 M B AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
A bumblebee.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
A Eurasian bittern.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: Ireland, UK, dialectal
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 4
To act or move in an awkward or confused manner (often clumsily, incompetently, or carelessly).
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Examples
- Spiders build webs and wait for insects to bumble into them.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 5
To carry out (a task) clumsily, incompetently, or with many careless mistakes; to bungle, to botch.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To boom, as a Eurasian bittern.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 7
To buzz or bum.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 8
To speak in a rambling, incoherent, or indistinct manner, especially at tedious length.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive
Qualifier: frequently with on
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 9
To grumble at; to blame.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete, transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 10
speak haltingly
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- The speaker faltered when he saw his opponent enter the room
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: stutter, stammer, falter
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: talk, speak, utter, mouth, verbalize, verbalise
verb
Meaning 11
walk unsteadily
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- The drunk man stumbled about
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: stumble, falter
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: walk
verb
Meaning 12
make a mess of, destroy or ruin
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- I botched the dinner and we had to eat out
- the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: botch, bodge, fumble, botch up, muff, blow, flub, screw up, ball up, spoil, muck up, bungle, fluff, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, bobble, mishandle, louse up, foul up, mess up, fuck up
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: fail, go wrong, miscarry
History
Etymology
Onomatopoeia. Compare bungle, jumble, and fumble.
* Verb: Frequentative of boom and/or bum, equivalent to bum + -le. * Noun: From the verb.
Across languages
Translations
10 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Bulgarian: обърквам се (obǎrkvam se) — move or act in an awkward or confused manner
- Czech: počínat si zmateně — move or act in an awkward or confused manner
- Czech: vrávorat — move or act in an awkward or confused manner
- Galician: chafallar — move or act in an awkward or confused manner
- Galician: enredar — move or act in an awkward or confused manner
- Galician: tropezar — move or act in an awkward or confused manner
- German: herumeiern — move or act in an awkward or confused manner
- Māori: tupehau — move or act in an awkward or confused manner
- Māori: pakihawa — move or act in an awkward or confused manner
- Vietnamese: loạng quạng — move or act in an awkward or confused manner
Real reading context