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blunder meaning and examples

2025-10-27

Meaning

Blunder means a careless or stupid mistake that causes problems or embarrassment. It can be used both as a noun (“a blunder”) and a verb (“to blunder”).

Grammar and Usage

Part of speech:

  • Noun: a mistake caused by carelessness or lack of understanding.
  • Verb: to make a careless mistake, to move or act clumsily.

Verb forms:

  • blunder – blundered – blundered – blundering

Typical structures:

  • make a blunder (noun use)
  • blunder into something (to get into a difficult situation by mistake)
  • blunder out / in (to enter or leave awkwardly or by accident)

Common Phrases

  • make a blunder – to make a big mistake
  • political blunder – a serious mistake by a politician
  • blunder into trouble – to get into trouble accidentally
  • a social blunder – a mistake that offends others in social situations

Collocations

  • make / commit / admit a blunder
  • serious / huge / embarrassing / costly blunder
  • career / tactical / diplomatic blunder

Examples

  1. The company lost millions because of a marketing blunder.
  2. He made a blunder by sending the wrong email to the client.
  3. The politician’s comment turned out to be a serious blunder.
  4. She blundered into the meeting room without knocking.
  5. I realized I had blundered badly after seeing everyone’s reaction.
  6. The pilot’s blunder nearly caused an accident.
  7. Don’t blunder into making a decision without checking the facts.
  8. The rookie’s defensive blunder cost the team the game.
  • mistake
  • error
  • slip
  • oversight
  • misstep
  • lapse

Antonym

  • correction
  • accuracy
  • success
  • precision