verb
make a mess of, destroy or ruin
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I botched the dinner and we had to eat out
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the pianist screwed up the difficult passage in the second movement
• Syn:
↑botch, ↑bodge, ↑bumble, ↑fumble, ↑botch up, ↑muff, ↑blow, ↑flub, ↑screw up, ↑spoil, ↑muck up, ↑bungle, ↑fluff, ↑bollix, ↑bollix up, ↑bollocks, ↑bollocks up, ↑bobble, ↑mishandle, ↑louse up, ↑foul up, ↑mess up, ↑fuck up
• Derivationally related forms:
↑fuckup (for: ↑fuck up), ↑mess-up (for: ↑mess up), ↑foul-up (for: ↑foul up), ↑fluff (for: ↑fluff), ↑bungle (for: ↑bungle), ↑bungler (for: ↑bungle), ↑spoil (for: ↑spoil), ↑spoilage (for: ↑spoil), ↑spoiling (for: ↑spoil), ↑ballup, ↑screwup (for: ↑screw up), ↑flub (for: ↑flub), ↑fumbler (for: ↑fumble), ↑bumbler (for: ↑bumble), ↑botcher (for: ↑botch), ↑botch (for: ↑botch)
• Verb Frames:
-
Somebody ——s
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Somebody ——s something
* * *
transitive verbmy educational routine was so hopelessly balled up that my mother made only one more effort to reform me — Elsa Maxwell
got his signals crossed and hopelessly balled up the program
: to get balled up : become badly muddled or confused
so tired he balled up on even simple problems
* * *
ball up
1. To clog
2. To make a mess of (slang; ballˈup noun (US); balledˈ-up adjective)
• • •
Main Entry: ↑ball
Useful english dictionary. 2012.