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to flounder

to flounder

26 6.6
To struggle to move or think clearly when you have trouble
  • verb
  • /ˈflaʊndər/
translation icon : tener dificultades
  • When faced with a difficult question, she began to flounder, unsure of how to respond.
  • left to flounder
  • floundering in school
  • reform has floundered

But without them, you're going to end up floundering, right.

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Examples

  • Two years earlier, he had purchased a floundering journal, The Christian Century, and "re-founded it."

    Academic text (2014)
  • If an assessment tells them that students are floundering, teachers can adjust instruction to address the problem.

    Academic text (2009)
  • And now when the greatest opportunity of a lifetime comes along, you flounder like a fish out of water.

  • But Jane and Joe feel turned off, shut out, and left to flounder in the dark.

    Academic text (1996)
  • Seemed to flounder around, unsure of herself.

  • But we are still floundering as we look for a new school library model.

    Academic text (2011)
  • I'm floundering in a sea of confusion and total despair.

  • Sitting up, he could see the men floundering helplessly in the pond.

    Fiction book (1996)
  • Instead, he spent most of the decade floundering to establish himself as a top-rank concert artist.

    Academic text (2011)
  • In that fractured country, the "international community" constantly flounders about since basic political cohesion does not exist.

    Academic text (2004)

Synonyms

to struggle
vsto flounder
170 3.0

To move or climb with great difficulty, often using your hands

is broader including both physical and mental difficulty rather than only effort
to stagger
vsto flounder
49 4.0

Walk in an unsteady way as if about to fall

can also mean mental or general difficulty not only physical weakness
to reel
vsto flounder
16 4.6

To move in an unsteady way as if about to fall

is broader covering difficulty in action or thought not only dizziness
to falter
vsto flounder
4 5.6

To move or lean in a way that looks like it might fall

is more about ongoing hard difficulty rather than brief hesitation

Antonyms

846 2.0

To reach a goal after trying hard

241 3.2

To grow well and be successful

Compounds

blackback flounder
  • Specialized
9.3

A flat fish from North American coasts eaten as food in winter

lefteye flounder
  • Specialized
9.9

A flat fish with both eyes on the left side of its head

lefteyed flounder
  • Specialized
9.9

A fish with both eyes on the left side of its head

8.1

A flat sea fish that lives in warm shallow waters near the Atlantic coast

righteye flounder
  • Specialized
9.9

A flat fish with both eyes on the right side of its head

righteyed flounder
  • Specialized
9.9

A flat sea fish with both eyes on the right side

A flat fish from the east coast of North America that people eat

A flat fish that lives near southern United States coasts and changes color to match the sea floor

A flat fish from cold north Atlantic waters that people eat and often catch in winter

A flat fish with a yellow tail from the Atlantic that people eat

How Struggling

to struggle
851 2.8
to flail
38 5.8
to flounder
26 6.6
to stumble
129 1.6
to fumble
19 3.5

Surface Forms

flounder infinitive
floundered past
floundered past participle
floundering present participle
flounders third person singular

Etymology

Flounder (verb) grew from that picture of the fish 'flopping' and struggling on the sand, so people used it for anyone who moves or acts clumsily; that's why to flounder now means to move or struggle with difficulty.