bungle

Word family

bun·gle /ˈbʌŋɡəl/ verb [transitiveT]

DO BADLYto fail to do something properly, because you have made stupid mistakes – used especially in news reports 搞砸〔尤用于新闻报道〕

The whole police operation was bungled.

警方的整个行动都给弄砸了。

—bungled adjectiveadj

a bungled rescue attempt

一次失败的救援行动

—bungle noun [countableC]

—bungler noun [countableC]

Examples from the Corpus

bungle• Attempts to catch the elusive Sirven have undoubtedly been bungled.• Call it another case of bureaucratic bungling.• Officers have bungled a number of recent criminal cases.• He nearly bungled a punt in the first half.• Since returning from his Easter break in Florida he has bungled and backtracked even in his fief, the Senate.• Too many discharges, bungled grievances, unreturned phone calls.• The evidence that the television arrangements were bungled is incontrovertible.• Analysts agree that the company bungled its response to the crisis.• Joint interests could cause you more concern than anything else and you may feel that a partner has bungled matters here.• Birns blames much of the conjecture and confusion on the bungling of government investigators.• The plan seemed simple enough, but the CIA managed to bungle the operation.

Origin bungle

(1500-1600) Perhaps from a Scandinavian language

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus