Antonyms for bunglingbungling

English Synonyms and AntonymsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. bungling

   Awkward, from awk (kindred with off, from the Norwegian), is off-ward, turned the wrong way; it was anciently used of a back-handed or left-handed blow in battle, of squinting eyes, etc. Clumsy, on the other hand (from clumse, also through the Norwegian), signifies benumbed, stiffened with cold; this is the original meaning of clumsy fingers, clumsy limbs. Thus, awkward primarily refers to action, clumsy to condition. A tool, a vehicle, or the human frame may be clumsy in shape or build, awkward in motion. The clumsy man is almost of necessity awkward, but the awkward man may not be naturally clumsy. The finest untrained colt is awkward in harness; a horse that is clumsy in build can never be trained out of awkwardness. An awkward statement has an uncomfortable, and perhaps recoiling force; a statement that contains ill-assorted and incongruous material in ill-chosen language is clumsy. We speak of an awkward predicament, an awkward scrape. An awkward excuse commonly reflects on the one who offers it. We say the admitted facts have an awkward appearance. In none of these cases could clumsy be used. Clumsy is, however, applied to movements that seem as unsuitable as those of benumbed and stiffened limbs. A dancing bear is both clumsy and awkward.

   Antonyms:
   adroit, clever, dexterous, handy, skilful

   Synonyms:
   awkward, boorish, clownish, clumsy, gawky, maladroit, rough, uncouth, ungainly, unhandy, unskilful

   Preposition:
   The raw recruit is awkward in action; at the business.

Princeton's WordNetRate these antonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. bungling, clumsy, fumbling, incompetentadjective

   showing lack of skill or aptitude

   "a bungling workman"; "did a clumsy job"; "his fumbling attempt to put up a shelf"

   Antonyms:
   skilled, adroit

   Synonyms:
   butterfingered, handless, ill-chosen, fumbling, clumsy, heavy-handed, unqualified, awkward, cumbersome, ungainly, bunglesome, unequal to(p), unskilled, bumbling, ham-handed, incompetent, unwieldy, ham-fisted, clunky, inapt, inept, incapable, gawky, left-handed

2. bumbling, bungling, butterfingered, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed, left-handedadjective

   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

   Antonyms:
   skilled, adroit

   Synonyms:
   left-handed, levorotary, incompetent, bumbling, levorotatory, butterfingered, morganatic, handless, roughshod, heavy-handed, fumbling, clumsy, ham-handed, ham-fisted

Synonyms, Antonyms & Associated WordsRate these synonyms:0.0 / 0 votes

1. bunglingadjective

   Synonyms:
   unskillful, maladroit, inexpert, clumsy, inapt

How to use bungling in a sentence?

1. Justice Warren E. Burger:

   ... ours is a sick profession marked by incompetence, lack of training, misconduct and bad manners. Ineptness, bungling, malpractice, and bad ethics can be observed in court houses all over this country every day ... these incompetents have a seeming unawareness of the fundamental ethics of the profession. ... the harsh truth is that ... we may well be on our way to a society, overrun by hordes of lawyers, hungry as locusts, and brigades of judges in numbers never before contemplated.

2. Henry David Thoreau, Wednesday, A Week on the Concord and Merrimack Rivers:

   Ignorance and bungling with love are better than wisdom and skill without.

3. Lydia Child:

   That man's best works should be such bungling imitations of Nature's infinite perfection, matters not much; but that he should make himself an imitation, this is the fact which Nature moans over, and deprecates beseechingly. Be spontaneous, be truthful, be free, and thus be individuals! is the song she sings through warbling birds, and whispering pines, and roaring waves, and screeching winds.

How to pronounce bungling?

How to say bungling in sign language?

Words popularity by usage frequency