Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A condition of confusion caused by mistakes or poor judgment.
- noun A mechanical failure.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun an embarrassing mistake.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun   A disastrous mistake .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb make a mess of, destroy or ruin
- noun an embarrassing mistake
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
 
				Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word foul-up.
Examples
- 
								Jim Naughtie wasn't the first presenter to let slip with a four-letter foul-up Jeremy Paxman follows Naughtie example with on-air 'cuts' blunder 2011 
- 
								As a young BBC producer in the mid-1980s, I once wrote him a note to apologize for a foul-up that had left him hanging around a studio, wasting time. Zero-Sum Future Gideon Rachman 2011 
- 
								Flakes melted onto wet streets as snowplows – some equipped with global positioning devices since the blizzard foul-up – and salt spreaders sat idle in neighborhoods all over the city. Flight Delays, Cancellations Trickle In As Snow Falls In Northeast AP 2011 
- 
								At what point (I hate to say it) does free enterprise/big business/owners accept culpability for their foul-up? 
- 
								Flakes melted onto wet streets as snowplows – some equipped with global positioning devices since the blizzard foul-up – and salt spreaders sat idle in neighborhoods all over the city. Flight Delays, Cancellations Trickle In As Snow Falls In Northeast AP 2011 
- 
								Flakes melted onto wet streets as snowplows – some equipped with global positioning devices since the blizzard foul-up – and salt spreaders sat idle in neighborhoods all over the city. Flight Delays, Cancellations Trickle In As Snow Falls In Northeast AP 2011 
- 
								Flakes melted onto wet streets as snowplows – some equipped with global positioning devices since the blizzard foul-up – and salt spreaders sat idle in neighborhoods all over the city. 
- 
								Flakes melted onto wet streets as snowplows – some equipped with global positioning devices since the blizzard foul-up – and salt spreaders sat idle in neighborhoods all over the city. 
- 
								Flakes melted onto wet streets as snowplows — some equipped with global positioning devices since the blizzard foul-up — and salt spreaders sat idle in neighborhoods all over the city. 
- 
								As a young BBC producer in the mid-1980s, I once wrote him a note to apologize for a foul-up that had left him hanging around a studio, wasting time. Zero-Sum Future Gideon Rachman 2011 
Comments
Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.