A terrible or embarrassing mistake resulting from carelessness or ignorance: It was a critical blunder to forget the guest of honor's correct name when the public introduction was made by the chairman.

The government officials were accused of making severe administrative blunders in their financial report.

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1. To move in an awkward or confused manner: Vance was about to blunder badly in his speech before he found the notes in the pocket of his jacket.
2. To stumble or to move clumsily: Miriam saw a stranger blundering across the street towards the coffee shop.
3. To act or to speak in a manner that is awkward, ignorant, or thoughtless: The child was so upset that she blundered to her teacher that someone had pushed her, which was not really true.
4. Etymology: from as far back as 1340, which came from Old Norse (Norwegian language as written and spoken from 100 to 1500) blundra, "to shut one's eyes"; while the oldest English sense was "to stumble around blindly". The meaning of "make a stupid mistake" is first recorded in about 1711.

A costly or serious mistake. (1)