WordWeb Online

1. Showing lack of skill or aptitude
   "his fumbling attempt to put up a shelf";
   - bungling, clumsy, incompetent

1. Feel about uncertainly or blindly
   "She fumbled for her glasses in the darkness of the bedroom";
   - grope
    
2. Make one's way clumsily or blindly
   "He fumbled towards the door";
   - blunder
    
3. Handle clumsily
    
4. Make a mess of, destroy or ruin
   "I fumbled the dinner and we had to eat out";
   - botch, bodge [Brit, informal], bumble, botch up, muff [informal], blow, flub [N. Amer, informal], screw up [informal], spoil, muck up [informal], bungle, fluff [informal], bobble [N. Amer], mishandle, louse up [informal], foul up, mess up, butcher, goof up [informal], cock up [Brit, informal], balls up [informal], make a hash of [informal]
    
5. (baseball) drop, juggle or fail to play cleanly a grounder
   "fumble a grounder"

See also: grope for, unskilled

Type of: fail, go wrong, handle, look for, miscarry, palm, pass, play, search, seek

Encyclopedia: Fumble