bumbling

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

What Lily couldn’t have foreseen, of course, was that her amateur detective skills would become necessary when, one day, George is found dead, and the investigation by a bumbling local policeman isn’t up to snuff.

From Salon • May 25, 2026

"The island would not be the same without him. He's still bumbling, still a wee bit getting the wrong end of the stick quite a lot."

From BBC • Apr. 11, 2026

These include the theater’s posh director Meredith Potter; Stella’s bumbling surrogate father, Uncle Vernon; and the heartthrob P.L.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026

When attached to a character, indeterminacy manifests itself as confusion, and the novel mines a lot of humor from the bumbling of its poet-antihero.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 31, 2026

It seemed like something annoying, but then he was always doing something annoying in his bumbling, good-natured way, so that was no help at all.

From "The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate" by Jacqueline Kelly