blunder1 nounblunder2 verb
blunderblun‧der1 /ˈblʌndə $ -ər/ noun [countable] 
ExamplesEXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- a series of management blunders
- It seems to be another public relations blunder by the government.
- Major management blunders have led the company into bankruptcy.
- She stopped, finally aware of the terrible blunder she had made.
- Field goal follies At least four games this season were decided on field goal blunders.
- History was being catalogued here, the missed opportunities, blunders, and outright mistakes.
- It is a laborious process, likely to lead to embarrassing blunders if badly done.
- One popular blunder that almost every economist denounces is rent control.
- Snow was Harold Wilson's biggest ministerial blunder.
- The parents face a nightmare week-long wait before blood tests show if there has been a hospital blunder.
THESAURUSa stupid mistake► blunder
Collocations a stupid mistake caused by not thinking carefully enough about what you are saying or doing, which could have serious results: · In a serious blunder by the hospital, two babies were sent home with the wrong parents.
► gaffe an embarrassing and stupid mistake made in a social situation or in public: · a serious gaffe in her speech about immigration
► howler British English a very bad mistake, especially one that shows you do not know something, and that often makes other people laugh: · Photographers should be careful of making classic howlers, such as having a tree grow out of your subject’s head.
► cock-up British English informal a silly mistake when you are doing something – a very informal use: · They made a cock-up with the bill.· The government is anxious to avoid any more cock-ups.
Longman Language Activatora bad decision that causes problems for you► mistake something you do or decide that is not at all sensible and causes you a lot of problems: make a mistake: · My first marriage was a terrible failure. I don't want to make the same mistake again.· Don't make the mistake of underestimating your opponent.it is a mistake to do something: · It was a mistake to think that we could go on living on borrowed money.big/serious/terrible mistake: · Buying the farm was the biggest mistake of her life.learn from your mistakes (=do things better after realizing you have made mistakes): · All I can say is, I think I've learnt from my mistakes.
► miscalculation a mistake caused by planning something badly, and being wrong about the expected result: · The President's election defeat was the result of his own miscalculations.· I thought if I told Mark everything, it would be OK. That was a bad miscalculation.
► error of judgment formal a mistake caused by judging a situation or person wrongly: · In my opinion, appointing his son as chief executive was a serious error of judgment.make an error of judgment: · New, inexperienced members of staff are more liable to make errors of judgment.
► be a bad move informal if something you do is a bad move , it is a mistake because it puts you in a bad or dangerous situation: · He tried arguing with her. This was a bad move.· Perhaps her resignation wasn't such a bad move after all.it is a bad move doing something: · It was a bad move letting him come here in the first place.
► blunder a stupid mistake caused by not thinking carefully enough about what you are saying or doing, which could have very serious results: · It seems to be another public relations blunder by the government.· a series of management blundersmake a blunder: · She stopped, finally aware of the terrible blunder she had made.
► indiscretion a rather bad, silly, or immoral action by someone, especially someone in a public position - often used to make the action seem less bad: youthful indiscretion: · He dismissed his past association with racist groups as a youthful indiscretion.commit an indiscretion: · She confessed that she had committed a minor sexual indiscretion.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES► tactical error/mistake/blunder
a careless or stupid mistake: (=a mistake that will harm your plans later)
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSVERB► commit· Supposing in innocently requesting him to escort her today, she'd unwittingly committed a crass blunder?· After a quiet opening, Speelman committed a simple blunder, losing a piece for two pawns.
► make· And to study it you need a programme that ensures you don't make a blunder.· The winner made one bad blunder six fences from home but that could be put down more to frustration than anything else.· Were they all pretending to be ignorant in order to trap him into making some punishable blunder.· He had made the most ancient blunder in the business quite off his own bat.
A last-minute blunder cost them the match.► see thesaurus at mistakeblunder1 nounblunder2 verb
blunderblunder2 verb Word OriginWORD ORIGINblunder2
Verb TableOrigin:
1300-1400 Probably from a Scandinavian languageVERB TABLE
blunder
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | blunder |
| he, she, it | blunders | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | blundered |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have blundered |
| he, she, it | has blundered | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had blundered |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will blunder |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have blundered |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am blundering |
| he, she, it | is blundering | |
| you, we, they | are blundering | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was blundering |
| you, we, they | were blundering | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been blundering |
| he, she, it | has been blundering | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been blundering |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be blundering |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been blundering |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- He realized he had blundered by picking such an experienced player for the team.
- Police admitted that they blundered when they let Wylie go.
- The government later admitted it had blundered in its handling of the affair.
- They turned a corner and blundered into a group of soldiers.
- A moth thudded into the parchment lampshade and blundered round, trying to escape.
- He developed the photographs himself, blundering round the bathroom in the pitch dark.
- On occasion even the latter have lost their usual reticence and blundered.
- On the second night out of Hong Kong we blundered into the middle of a fishing fleet working close inshore.
- To be raped is one thing, but to blunder around disorientated is another.
- You can see so little as you blunder on that you are an easy target for any animal seeking fresh meat.
Longman Language Activatorto make a mistake► make a mistake
Collocations · My spoken Spanish was okay, but I kept making mistakes in my written work.· Don't worry - everyone makes mistakes.
► get something wrong especially spoken to make a mistake in something that you do, say, or write, especially when this has bad or annoying results: · I've been here a year now, and my boss still gets my name wrong!· You've got your facts wrong, mate - he doesn't work here any more.get it wrong (=deal with something in the wrong way): · Once again, the government has got it wrong.
► go wrong to make a mistake at a particular stage in a process, for example, with the result that the whole thing is spoiled: · Check your work again and see if you can spot where you went wrong.· If you follow the easy step-by-step instructions, you really can't go wrong.
► slip up to make a careless mistake, especially so that you lose some advantage, or spoil a chance that you had: · We'll just have to hope that the other teams slip up.slip up on: · He slipped up on just one detail.
► blunder to make a stupid mistake, usually with very serious results: · The government later admitted it had blundered in its handling of the affair.· He realized he had blundered by picking such an experienced player for the team.
► goof/goof up American informal to make a silly mistake: · You really goofed up this time!· Some drivers admit they goofed. Others blame anyone except themselves.
► misjudge to make a mistake about a person, situation, or amount by wrongly thinking that they are one thing when in fact they are another: · I'm sorry -- it seems I've misjudged you.· It's easy to misjudge the speed of a car heading toward you.· In fact, the US generals had seriously misjudged the determination and endurance of the North Vietnamese.
► fall into the trap of doing something to do something that seems good at the time but is not sensible: · Don't fall into the trap of trying to be too clever.· It is very easy for the mother to fall into the trap of offering the child only food that she knows the child likes.
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES► tactical error/mistake/blunder
1[intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to move in an unsteady way, as if you cannot see properlyblunder about/around (=a mistake that will harm your plans later)
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB► about· Until we do, we shall be blundering about in the dark.· They're blundering about like a ship in the fog, with no terms of reference to steer by.· Forest Goblin shamans are prone to run off dizzily, or just blunder about, unable to distinguish fact from venom-induced fiction.
► around· To be raped is one thing, but to blunder around disorientated is another.
Someone was blundering about in the kitchen.blunder into/past/through etc something Phil came blundering down the stairs.2[intransitive] to make a big mistake, especially because you have been careless or stupid: They blundered badly when they gave him the job.3[intransitive always + adverb/preposition] to enter a place or become involved in a difficult situation by mistakeblunder into Somehow we blundered into the war.blunder in He would have agreed if you hadn’t blundered in.