bumble

Word family

bum·ble /ˈbʌmbəl/ verb [intransitiveI]

1 (also bumble on)SPEAK A LANGUAGE to speak in a confused way, so that no one can understand you 含糊不清地说话

What was Karl bumbling on about?

卡尔嘀嘀咕咕地在说什么呀？

2. (also bumble around)BALANCE to move in an unsteady way 笨拙地行动

Examples from the Corpus

bumble• He bumbled around for a bit, trying to coil up the string and push the wood into tidy heaps.• The Frankenstein creature is kid stuff horror: one-dimensional, mundane, bumbling, awkward, clumsily destructive.• You may know it as an eccentric home to raw-boned miners, bumbling Biospherians and one fine little hilltop saloon.• Neither Torres nor Gutierrez Varea seems to have figured out what to do about the bumbling, controlling Michael.• Newly discovered papers reveal that behind his bumbling front Betjeman was an exceedingly good spy.• They were introduced by Jack's bumbling old friend Schultz.• Freedom party scandals as well as bumbled performances by some of its ministers probably hurt the party as well.• Despite Dulles's bumbling, these interests were secure.• Officials bumbled through their explanations of why the hospital had been bombed.

Origin bumble

(1500-1600) Probably from bungle

Chinese

Syllable

Corpus