Definition
nounA clumsy or embarrassing mistake.
nounA very bad move, usually caused by some tactical oversight.
Sentence Examples
What was she doing when she made that blunder?
He was guilty of a blunder.
Word Origin & History
Inherited from Middle English blundren, blondren (verb) and blunder, blonder (“disturbance, strife”), from the verb; partly from Middle English blondren, a frequentative form of Middle English blonden, blanden ("to mix; mix up"; corresponding to blend + -er); and partly from Middle English blundren, a frequentative form of Middle English blunden (“to stagger; stumble”), from Old Norse blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”). Cognates include Norwegian blunda (“to shut the eyes; doze”), dialectal Swedish blundra (“to act blindly or rashly”), Danish blunde (“to blink”) or blunde (“to take a nap”), Icelandic blunda (“to nap; doze”). Related to English blind.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"blunders on, and staggers every pace"
— 1700, [John] Dryden, “Palamon and Arcite: Or, The Knight’s Tale. In Three Books.”, in Fables Ancient and Modern; […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
"He and I had blundered into the middle of a gang fight once and I saw him shank a guy-stuck homeboy in the chest and strolled off cool as you please."
— 2007 May 6, Steve Geng, “First Chapter: ‘Thick as Thieves’”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 05 Jun 2015:
"He blunders and confounds all these together."
— 1676, Edward Stillingfleet, A Defence of the Discourse Concerning the Idolatry Practised in the Church of Rome:
"Were a Diſpute to be manag'd purely for a Trial of Skill; then to ſhuffle and digreſs from the Matter in hand, ſo as by any means whatſoever to blunder an Adverſary, and ſtop the Progreſs of his Argument, were a more pardonable Piece of Folly."
— 1714, Humphry Ditton, A discourse concerning the resurrection of Jesus Christ: