verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
around
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After fumbling around with it, the boot suddenly swung open.
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Then, too, the Saints were fumbling around with their quarterbacks.
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George Grindal returned to the doorway and fumbled around on the wall, wondering if there was a light switch.
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Joe continued to fumble around , and kept asking Geoffrey for extra items from the food stores.
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Then he fumbled around on the ground for his glasses.
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Why shave after you get home to the pitch black cabin and repeat the fumbling around ?
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The thought of her husband fumbling around in bed and urgently attempting to rouse her left her feeling suddenly depressed.
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I fumbled around in the dark for a candle.
■ NOUN
ball
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Have you ever seen Dean Richards fumble a ball ?
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Fittingly, their comeback try ended with Damon Dunn fumbling the ball away after a completion near midfield.
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In addition, Troy Walters fumbled the ball two of the first three times he touched it.
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He pulled the small plastic box free and laid it on top of the crate, fumbling in his jacket pocket for something.
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She looked at him, then fumbled madly in her pockets for the roll, passing it to him desperately.
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Stuart had fumbled nervously in his pockets , wondering how much he should give, just change, surely.
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Then he was there, fumbling in his pockets for change.
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She fumbled in her pocket for the key then let us in the side door.
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At the top I fumbled in my pockets for my key.
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He fumbled in his jacket pocket and came out with a tobacco pouch and a pipe and offered the pouch to Wycliffe.
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I fumbled in my back pocket and handed him the crumpled note.
word
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He often fumbles for the right words to explain his policies.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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Although she had sensed that a fiasco like this was inevitable, Amanda fumbled for an appropriate response.
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Even as her hand fumbled to open it, he thrust himself between her and the door, barring her way.
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He fumbled down a wall and pushed open a door.
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Most churches fumbled their efforts to respond to it.