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flounder

/ˈflaʊ̯ndɚ/ verb C2
  1. To act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered. (intransitive) · He gave a good speech, but floundered when audience members asked questions he could not answer well.
  2. To flop around as a fish out of water. (intransitive)
  3. To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance. (intransitive) · Robert yanked Connie's leg vigorously, causing her to flounder and eventually fall.
  4. To be in serious difficulty.

He/she/it flounders · Past floundered · Past participle floundered · -ing form floundering

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Verb forms

Base form
flounder
He/she/it
flounders
Past
floundered
Past participle
floundered
-ing form
floundering

From the library

It is something to have touched bottom anywhere in this bog in which we are floundering.
The Hound of the Baskervilles, p. 114 · C1

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Words, meanings, pronunciations and translations from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0); how common each word is from wordfreq. Made into this dictionary by FluentPlex.