Synonyms/Hypernyms (Ordered by Estimated Frequency) of verb bumble
3 senses of bumble
Sense 1
botch, bodge, bumble, fumble, botch up, muff, blow, flub, screw up, ball up, spoil, muck up, bungle, fluff, bollix, bollix up, bollocks, bollocks up, bobble, mishandle, louse up, foul up, mess up, fuck up -- (make a mess of, destroy or ruin; "I botched the dinner and we had to eat out"; "the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement")
=> fail, go wrong, miscarry -- (be unsuccessful; "Where do today's public schools fail?"; "The attempt to rescue the hostages failed miserably")
Sense 2
stumble, falter, bumble -- (walk unsteadily; "The drunk man stumbled about")
=> walk -- (use one's feet to advance; advance by steps; "Walk, don't run!"; "We walked instead of driving"; "She walks with a slight limp"; "The patient cannot walk yet"; "Walk over to the cabinet")
Sense 3
bumble, stutter, stammer, falter -- (speak haltingly; "The speaker faltered when he saw his opponent enter the room")
=> talk, speak, utter, mouth, verbalize, verbalise -- (express in speech; "She talks a lot of nonsense"; "This depressed patient does not verbalize")
Antonyms of adj bumbling
1 sense of bumbling
Sense 1
bumbling, bungling, butterfingered, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed, left-handed -- (lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands; "a bumbling mechanic"; "a bungling performance"; "ham-handed governmental interference"; "could scarcely empty a scuttle of ashes, so handless was the poor creature"- Mary H. Vorse)
INDIRECT (VIA maladroit) -> adroit -- (quick or skillful or adept in action or thought; "an exceptionally adroit pianist"; "an adroit technician"; "his adroit replies to hecklers won him many followers"; "an adroit negotiator")
Similarity of adj bumbling
1 sense of bumbling
Sense 1
bumbling, bungling, butterfingered, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed, left-handed -- (lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands; "a bumbling mechanic"; "a bungling performance"; "ham-handed governmental interference"; "could scarcely empty a scuttle of ashes, so handless was the poor creature"- Mary H. Vorse)
=> maladroit (vs. adroit) -- (not adroit; "a maladroit movement of his hand caused the car to swerve"; "a maladroit translation"; "maladroit propaganda")