fumble

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The play was reviewed however, and despite visual evidence that Marino did in fact fumble (and the play was called a fumble on the field), the play was inexplicably overturned and Miami was awarded the football after an incomplete pass.

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Definitions (27)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (12)

  1. intransitive verb To touch or handle nervously or idly: fumble with a necktie.
  2. intransitive verb To grope awkwardly to find or to accomplish something: fumble for a key.
  3. intransitive verb To proceed awkwardly and uncertainly; blunder: fumble through a speech.
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Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (7)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

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Examples (49)

  • The Hurricanes have recovered only one fumble -- and it wasn't on defense. —  Local News | The Bryan College Station Eagle
  • Floria's Ryan Stamper recovered the fumble, and Jonathan Phillips kicked a 39-yard field goal. —  Rivals.com: College Football News, Schedules and Scores Headlines
  • Florida's Ryan Stamper recovered the fumble, and Jonathan Phillips kicked a 39-yard field goal.
  • Usually in football, it's a turnover, such as a fumble or interception, that opens the door for the other team to change the outcome. —  Original Signal - Transmitting Web 2.0
  • The play was reviewed however, and despite visual evidence that Marino did in fact fumble (and the play was called a fumble on the field), the play was inexplicably overturned and Miami was awarded the football after an incomplete pass. —  MVN
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This word has been looked up 161 times.

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

Used in the same contextWord Family

fumble:   fumbled ·  fumbling
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English fomelen, to grope.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. The b is excrescent, as in grumble, humble, humble, etc.; from Dutch fommelen = Low German fummeln, fommeln, fumble, grope, = Swedish fumla, also famla = Danish famle = Icelandic fālma, fumble, grope; other forms are famble, q. v. (of Scandinavian origin), and fimble (apparently, like German dial. fimmeln, an attenuated form of fumble, Low German fummeln); prob. a derivative of the word preserved in Old High German folma = Anglo-Saxon folm = Old Saxon plural folmos, the hand, = Latin palma, the palm of the hand: see famble, palm.
  2. from fumble, v.
 

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/ˈfəmbl/
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