blunder

English

Etymology

From Middle English blunder, blonder (“disturbance, strife”), from Middle English blundren, blondren (verb), which itself is partly from Middle English blondren, a frequentative form of Middle English blonden, blanden ("to mix; mix up"; corresponding to blend +‎ -er); and partly from Middle English blundren, a frequentative form of Middle English blunden (“to stagger; stumble”), from Old Norse blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”). Cognates include Norwegian blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”), dialectal Swedish blundra (“to act blindly or rashly”), Danish blunde (“to blink”) or blunde (“to take a nap”). Related to English blind.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈblʌn.də(ɹ)/
• IPA^(key): /ˈblʌn.dɚ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌndə(ɹ)

Noun

blunder (plural blunders)

1. A clumsy or embarrassing mistake.

Synonyms

• (error): blooper, boo-boo, error, faux pas, flub, fluff, fumble, gaffe, goof, lapse, mistake, slip, stumble, thinko

Derived terms

• blundersome

Translations

mistake

• Bulgarian: груба грешка f (gruba greška), пропуск (bg) m (propusk)
• Dutch: blunder (nl) m
• Finnish: kommellus, kömmähdys (fi), munaus (fi), haksahdus (fi)
• French: (colloquial) gaffe (fr) f, (colloquial) impair (fr) m, faux pas (fr) m, maladresse (fr) f, bourde (fr) f
• German: Patzer (de) m, Schnitzer (de) m, Fehler (de) m, Fehlgriff m, Mißgriff (de) m, Fauxpas (de) m, Fehlleistung (de) f, Ungeschicklichkeit f, Fehltritt (de) m, Versehen (de) n
• Greek: σφάλμα (el) n (sfálma), λάθος (el) n (láthos), παραδρομή (el) f (paradromí)
• Hebrew: פַּאֲשְׁלָה m (pashlah)
• Hungarian: baklövés (hu), szarvashiba
• Interlingue: ,
• Italian: abbaglio (it) m, strafalcione (it) m, cantonata, sfondone m, svarione m, topica (it) f
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Japanese: へま (hema), ポカ (poka)
• Maori: pōkaku, hēnga, paheketanga
• Polish: gafa (pl) f
• Portuguese: erro (pt) m, confusão (pt) m, gafe (pt) f, mico (pt) m, pontapé (pt) m
• Russian: ляп (ru) m (ljap), ля́псус (ru) m (ljápsus), проко́л (ru) m (prokól), про́мах (ru) m (prómax), просчёт (ru) m (prosčót)
• Serbo-Croatian: kiks (sh) m, кикс m
• Spanish: error (es) m, (Chile) condoro (es) m, (Colombia) descache (es) m, torpeza (es) f, desliz (es) m, garrafal (es) m, (Latin America) metida de pata (es) f, tropiezo (es) m, desatino (es), topinada f
• Swedish: blunder (sv) c, tabbe (sv) c, tavla (sv) c
• Turkish: hata (tr)

Verb

blunder (third-person singular simple present blunders, present participle blundering, simple past and past participle blundered)

1. (intransitive) To make a clumsy or stupid mistake.

   to blunder in preparing a medical prescription

2. (intransitive) To move blindly or clumsily.
   • (Can we date this quote by Goldsmith and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     I was never distinguished for address, and have often even blundered in making my bow.

   • (Can we date this quote by Dryden and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     blunders on, and staggers every pace

3. (transitive) To cause to make a mistake.
   • (Can we date this quote by Ditton and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     To blunder an adversary.

4. (transitive) To do or treat in a blundering manner; to confuse.
   • (Can we date this quote by Stillingfleet and provide title, author’s full name, and other details?)

     He blunders and confounds all these together.

Translations

To make a stupid mistake

• Bulgarian: правя груби грешки (pravja grubi greški)
• Dutch: blunderen (nl), een flater slaan, een bok schieten, miskleunen (nl)
• German: patzen (de), einen Bock schießen, danebengreifen, vermasseln (de), murksen (de), vermurksen (de), pfuschen (de), Mist bauen, sich blamieren
• Greek: σφάλλω (el) (sfállo)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingue:
• Italian: sbagliare (it), prendere una cantonata, prendere un abbaglio, sgarrare (it), errare (it), toppare, spropositare (it), fare una gaffe
• Russian: ля́пнуть (ru) pf (ljápnutʹ) (esp. say somethin inappropriate), лопухну́ться (ru) pf (lopuxnútʹsja), (slang) лажа́ться impf (lažátʹsja), облажа́ться (ru) pf (oblažátʹsja)
• Spanish: meter la pata (es)
• Volapük: pökön (vo)

To move blindly or clumsily

• Bulgarian: вървя слепешката (vǎrvja slepeškata)
• German: stolpern (de), herumtappen
• Italian: muoversi a tentoni, andare alla cieca
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Maori: pakihawa
• Russian: дви́гаться о́щупью (dvígatʹsja óščupʹju), дви́гаться на о́щупь (dvígatʹsja na óščupʹ)
• Spanish: dar tumbos

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• Serbo-Croatian: ^{(please verify)} kiksati (sh)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}

Anagrams

• bundler

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Dutch

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈbʏn.dər/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Hyphenation: blun‧der
• Rhymes: -ʏndər

Etymology 1

Borrowed from English blunder, from Middle English blonder, blundur (“disturbance, strife”), from Old Norse blunda (“to shut the eyes”). Related to blind.

Noun

blunder m (plural blunders, diminutive blundertje n)

1. blunder

Related terms

• blunderen

Etymology 2

See the etymology of the corresponding lemma form.

Verb

blunder

1. (deprecated template usage) first-person singular present indicative of blunderen
2. (deprecated template usage) imperative of blunderen

Anagrams

• brulden

---

Swedish

Noun

blunder c

1. blunder; clumsy mistake

Declension

Declension of blunder

		nominative	genitive
singular	indefinite	blunder	blunders
	definite	blundern	blunderns
plural	indefinite	blundrar	blundrars
	definite	blundrarna	blundrarnas