Category:Blunder

Blun"der, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Blundered; p. pr. & vb. n. Blundering.] Etym: [OE. blunderen, blondren, to stir, confuse, blunder; perh. allied to blend to mix, to confound by mixture.]

1. To make a gross error or mistake; as, to blunder in writing or preparing a medical prescription. Swift.

2. To move in an awkward, clumsy manner; to flounder and stumble. I was never distinguished for address, and have often even blundered in making my bow. Goldsmith. Yet knows not how to find the uncertain place, And blunders on, and staggers every pace. Dryden. To blunder on. (a) To continue blundering. (b) To find or reach as if by an accident involving more or less stupidity, -- applied to something desirable; as, to blunder on a useful discovery.

Blunder Blun"der, v. t.

1. To cause to blunder. [Obs.] "To blunder an adversary." Ditton.

2. To do or treat in a blundering manner; to confuse. He blunders and confounds all these together. Stillingfleet.

Blunder Blun"der, n.

1. Confusion; disturbance. [Obs.]

2. A gross error or mistake, resulting from carelessness, stupidity, or culpable ignorance.

Syn. -- Blunder, Error, Mistake, Bull. An error is a departure or deviation from that which is right or correct; as, an error of the press; an error of judgment. A mistake is the interchange or taking of one thing for another, through haste, inadvertence, etc.; as, a careless mistake. A blunder is a mistake or error of a gross kind. It supposes a person to flounder on in his course, from carelessness, ignorance, or stupidity. A bull is a verbal blunder containing a laughable incongruity of ideas.