Standard Lemma guide

bungle

noun · verb · 6 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot

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.

  • General-American, Received-Pronunciation: /ˈbʌŋɡ(ə)l/
  • Southern-England: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
  • rhymes with -ʌŋɡəl
  • CMU ARPABET: B AH1 NG G AH0 L Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.

1

noun

Meaning 1

A botched or incompetently handled action or situation; a blunder.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: botch, muddle

Antonyms: none provided

2

verb

Meaning 2

To incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action; to botch up, to bumble.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: transitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: botch, mishandle, ball up, blight, bumble, bugger up, bungle, contaminate, corrupt, crab, deprave, disrupt, disturb, foil, fuck up, jack up, mar, mess up, mommick, pollute, put a crimp in, queer, ruin, screw up, soil, sour, spoil, stain, undo, upset, turn upside down, upset the applecart, vitiate

Antonyms: none provided

3

verb

Meaning 3

To act or work incompetently; to fumble.

Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract

Usage: intransitive

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: blunder

Antonyms: none provided

4

noun

Meaning 4

an embarrassing mistake

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

No example sentence was provided for this meaning.

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: blunder, blooper, bloomer, pratfall, foul-up, fuckup, flub, botch, boner, boo-boo

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: mistake, error, fault

Narrower terms: bobble, snafu, spectacle, bull, fumble, muff, fluff, faux pas, gaffe, solecism, slip, gaucherie, howler, clanger, trip, trip-up, stumble, misstep

5

verb

Meaning 5

spoil by behaving clumsily or foolishly

Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0

Examples

  • I bungled it!

Meaning relationships

Synonyms: none provided

Antonyms: none provided

Broader terms: act, behave, do

6

verb

Meaning 6

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, bumble, fumble, botch up, muff, blow, flub, screw up, ball up, spoil, muck up, 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

The origin of the verb is uncertain; it is either: * onomatopoeic in origin (compare bumble (“to act in an inept, clumsy or inexpert manner; to make mistakes”), fumble (“to grope awkwardly in trying to find something; to blunder uncertainly”)); or * from Old Norse; compare Old Swedish bunga (“to strike”), and dialectal Swedish bangla (“to work ineffectually”). The noun is derived from the verb. Cognates * German Bengel (“cudgel; rude fellow”) * Middle High German bungen (“to hammer”)

Across languages

Translations

53 source translations are retained for this English entry.

  • Czech: fušeřina — botched or incompetently handled action or situation — see also blunder
  • Czech: fušerství — botched or incompetently handled action or situation — see also blunder
  • Czech: břídilství — botched or incompetently handled action or situation — see also blunder
  • Polish: amatorstwo — botched or incompetently handled action or situation — see also blunder
  • Polish: amatorszczyzna — botched or incompetently handled action or situation — see also blunder
  • Polish: partactwo — botched or incompetently handled action or situation — see also blunder
  • Polish: fuszerka — botched or incompetently handled action or situation — see also blunder
  • Bulgarian: обърквам (obǎrkvam) — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Bulgarian: работя несръчно (rabotja nesrǎčno) — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Chinese Mandarin: 搞砸 (gǎozá) — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Czech: zpackat — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Czech: zvorat — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Czech: zfušovat — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Dutch: verknoeien — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Esperanto: fuŝi — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Finnish: hutiloida — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Finnish: tyriä — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • French: rater — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • French: foirer — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Galician: atrapallarse — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Galician: embarullarse — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Galician: embrollarse — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • German: vergeigen — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • German: verkorksen — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • German: vermurksen — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • German: verpatzen — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • German: versemmeln — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Italian: abborracciare — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Italian: pasticciare — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Māori: pakihawa — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Māori: tupehau — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Mon: ကၠောန်လဝ်ဆဆဵု — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Mon: ကမၠောန်မကၠောန်လဝ်ဆဆဵု — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Polish: partaczyć — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Polish: spartaczyć — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Polish: knocić — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Polish: sknocić — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Polish: spieprzać — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Polish: spieprzyć — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Portuguese: atrapalhar-se — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Russian: напорта́чить (naportáčitʹ) — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Russian: порта́чить (portáčitʹ) — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Russian: схалту́рить (sxaltúritʹ) — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Russian: халту́рить (xaltúritʹ) — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Spanish: embarullar — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Swedish: fumla — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Swedish: klåpa — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Ukrainian: халтурити (xalturyty) — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Ukrainian: партачити (partačyty) — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Ukrainian: капарити провалитися (kaparyty) — to incompetently perform (a task); to ruin (something) through incompetent action — see also botch up, bumble
  • Polish: robić nieporadnie — to act or work incompetently — see also fumble
  • Polish: zrobić nieporadnie — to act or work incompetently — see also fumble
  • Spanish: embarullar — to act or work incompetently — see also fumble