fumbles
Mishandles the ball
Fumbles is the plural of fumble—clumsy attempts to handle or find something: His fumbles with the keys delayed our escape.
In American football, fumbles are plays where the ball carrier loses possession: The team's three fumbles cost them the game.
The word suggests awkwardness and lack of control, whether physical or verbal: After several fumbles, he managed to ask her out.
Descends or releases
- butterfingersClumsy dropper of things
- bobblesMishandles briefly, clumsily
- mishandlesManages something incompetently
- jugglingSequential toss-and-catch performance
slipping · clutching · grasping · flailing · scrambling · recovering · snatching · grabbing
Sales volume or attrition
- recoveryRegaining what was lost
- interceptionSeizing something in transit
- footballField sport with goals
- quarterbackPassing position in football
handoff · snap · gridiron · tackle · scoop · stripped · muffed · bobbled
Feels about blindly
- rummagesSearches by displacing items
- patsLight hand touches
- feelsPerceives or experiences
- fishesGilled water dwellers
digs · roots · searches · reaches · probes · scrambles · hunts · pockets
Fails through carelessness
- bunglesMishandles through clumsiness
- flubsBotches through carelessness
- goofsCareless small errors
- screwupsMistakes causing trouble
mistakes · errors · gaffes · missteps · snafus · bloopers · miscues · lapses
Speaks with involuntary pauses
- stuttersSpeaks with repetitions
- stumblesWalks unsteadily, nearly falling
- mumblesSpeaks indistinctly
- spluttersEmits choppy, wet sounds
hesitates · falters · tongue-tied · inarticulate · garbled · incoherent · halting · searching
drops
Descends or releases
- butterfingersClumsy dropper of things
- bobblesMishandles briefly, clumsily
- mishandlesManages something incompetently
juggling · slipping · clutching · grasping · flailing · scrambling · recovering · snatching · grabbing · stumbling
turnover
Sales volume or attrition
- recoveryRegaining what was lost
- interceptionSeizing something in transit
- footballField sport with goals
quarterback · handoff · snap · gridiron · tackle · scoop · stripped · muffed · bobbled · dropped
gropes
Feels about blindly
fishes · digs · roots · searches · reaches · probes · scrambles · hunts · pockets · purse
botches
Fails through carelessness
screwups · mistakes · errors · gaffes · missteps · snafus · bloopers · miscues · lapses · slip-ups
stammers
Speaks with involuntary pauses
splutters · hesitates · falters · tongue-tied · inarticulate · garbled · incoherent · halting · searching · groping
- football rulesdowns, first down, first downs, touchdowns, field goals
- sports statsstats, most points, yards, most goals, box scores
- bloopersbloopers, blooper, fail, gag reel, outtakes
- blundersblunder, blunders, blundered, mistakes, botch
- failuresfailure, failures, flop, flops, bust
- flawsfaults, defect, flaw, blemish, flaws
- fumbled the bagSquandered a sure thing
- fumble the ball
- fumble the bagWaste a certain opportunity
- fumbling the bagFailing when victory's near
- fumble recoveryGaining possession after mishandle
- forced fumblesDefensive turnovers caused deliberately
fumble, fumbling, fumbled, fumbler, fumblingly, unfumbled, fumblings