fouling up

verb

present participle of foul up
1
as in fumbling
to make or do (something) in a clumsy or unskillful way tried not to foul up the football play

Synonyms & Similar Words

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in stumbling
to make a mistake unfortunately, I fouled up and in my e-mail gave everyone the wrong date for the meeting

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of Synonyms for fouling up
  1. fumbling
  2. stumbling
  3. screwing up
  4. slipping up
  5. blowing
  6. tripping
  7. mucking up
Verb
  • The Packers’ offense left the field, but came back after it was ruled that Watson was down before fumbling.
    — Rob Reischel, Forbes.com, 22 Aug. 2026
  • Here was his senior running back, who scored a 44-yard touchdown in their state championship win months earlier, fumbling on the very first play of the Blue-White scrimmage.
    — Kevin Fishbain, New York Times, 18 Aug. 2026
Definition of fumbling
Verb
  • The teddy bears, the stumbling answers, the whole morning in the Cotillion was a mess.
    — Noah Shachtman, Vanity Fair, 25 Aug. 2026
  • Calhoun, who moved to Kansas City from Ames, Iowa, in 2016, started photography during the pandemic after stumbling across a photography video on YouTube.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of stumbling
Verb
  • So not screwing up Spider-Man is about putting a beating heart at the center rather than a bunch of spectacle.
    — Chris Lee, Vulture, 3 Aug. 2026
  • The fear of failure can do as much harm as actually screwing up.
    — Amy Nicholson, Los Angeles Times, 30 July 2026
Definition of screwing up
Verb
  • Arsenal are firmly in title-chasing mode and goal difference could still prove crucial, despite Manchester City slipping up against Everton on Monday.
    — Abdul Rehman, New York Times, 7 May 2026
  • But knowing Olson’s proclivity for slipping up in hysterical fashion made the match that much more appealing.
    — Ben Travers, IndieWire, 7 May 2026
Definition of slipping up
Verb
  • Its exterior is rich with symbolism, from stone carvings representing the all-seeing eye of God to a golden statue, atop the highest spire, of an angel blowing a trumpet to herald the Second Coming.
    — Brandon Griggs, CNN Money, 28 Aug. 2026
  • There is a micronation on a fortress at sea off the coast of Great Britain, and the British government once considered blowing it up.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, 27 Aug. 2026
Definition of blowing
Verb
  • The nearly two-minute spot depicts a club-wielding bureaucrat chasing and tripping a child on a bike and another stealing a boy’s scooter.
    — Ben Paviour, Sacbee.com, 27 Aug. 2026
  • The boy was outside by himself for a total of nine minutes and had fallen into the pool after tripping over an inflatable chair, the report added.
    — Jose R. Gonzalez, AZCentral.com, 26 Aug. 2026
Definition of tripping
Verb
  • But life has a way of mucking up even the best plans, sometimes all at once and sometimes bit by bit and usually a little of both.
    — Brian Grubb, Vulture, 10 Aug. 2026
  • Amid the memory shortage that's mucking up component prices globally, at least Qualcomm has some promising news for folks hoping to pay less for a daily driver.
    — Florence Ion, PC Magazine, 7 May 2026
Definition of mucking up
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Browse Nearby Words

fouling
fouling up
foully
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Cite this Entry

“Fouling up.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/fouling%20up. Accessed 2 Sep. 2026.

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Last Updated: - Updated example sentences
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