From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbunglebun‧gle /ˈbʌŋɡəl/ verb [transitive] DO BADLYto fail to do something properly, because you have made stupid mistakes – used especially in news reports The whole police operation was bungled. —bungled adjective a bungled rescue attempt —bungle noun [countable] —bungler noun [countable]→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
bungle• Attempts to catch the elusive Sirven have undoubtedly been bungled.• Call it another case of bureaucratic bungling.• Officers have bungled a number of recent criminal cases.• He nearly bungled a punt in the first half.• Since returning from his Easter break in Florida he has bungled and backtracked even in his fief, the Senate.• Too many discharges, bungled grievances, unreturned phone calls.• The evidence that the television arrangements were bungled is incontrovertible.• Analysts agree that the company bungled its response to the crisis.• Joint interests could cause you more concern than anything else and you may feel that a partner has bungled matters here.• Birns blames much of the conjecture and confusion on the bungling of government investigators.• The plan seemed simple enough, but the CIA managed to bungle the operation.Origin bungle (1500-1600) Perhaps from a Scandinavian language