flounder
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To act clumsily or confused.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
flownderSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈflaʊndɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
intransitive
To act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered.
intransitive
To flop around as a fish out of water.
intransitive
To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance.
To be in serious difficulty.
Walk with great difficulty
noun
A European species of flatfish having dull brown colouring with reddish-brown blotches; fluke, European flounder (Platichthys flesus).
CanadaUS
Any of various European and non-European marine flatfish
CanadaUS
Flesh of any of various American and European flatfish
A bootmaker's tool for crimping boot fronts.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered.
Used this way, flounder is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- No strong connotation
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Flounder found from North Carolina to Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Flounder found from North Carolina to Florida and the eastern Gulf of Mexico.
Flatfishes with both eyes on the left side of the head.
Flatfishes with both eyes on the left side of the head.
Flounders with both eyes on the right side of the head.
Flounders with both eyes on the right side of the head.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.