flub
Other forms: flubbed; flubs; flubbing
To flub something is to really mess it up. When a movie actor flubs his lines, the scene can be filmed again. But, if he's a stage actor, there's no way to fix the mistake.
Even a star basketball player flubs an easy layup sometimes, and the very best students occasionally flub a quiz. The mistake or blunder itself can also be called a flub: "The concert was terrible, full of flubs." The word's been around since the 1920's, possibly influenced by words like "fluff" and "flop," and definitely coined in the United States.
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make a mess of, destroy or ruin
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an embarrassing mistake
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types:
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bobble
the momentary juggling of a batted or thrown baseball
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spectacle
a blunder that makes you look ridiculous; used in the phrase `make a spectacle of' yourself
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bull
a serious and ludicrous blunder
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fumble, muff
(sports) dropping the ball
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fluff
a blunder (especially an actor's forgetting the lines)
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faux pas, gaffe, gaucherie, slip, solecism
a socially awkward or tactless act
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howler
a glaring blunder
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clanger
a conspicuous mistake whose effects seem to reverberate
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misstep, stumble, trip, trip-up
an unintentional but embarrassing blunder
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A paragraph of text
Copy citationVocabulary lists containing flub
Teenagers Penelope and Xander navigate first love and family matters while working at Penelope's father's restaurant.
Along with the ups and downs of seventh grade, Ross Maloy must deal with a cancer diagnosis and treatment.
Kaia spends her summer making a movie influenced by Filipino folklore, while trying to convince her beloved grandfather not to return to the Philippines.
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