blunderbuss

noun

ˈblən-dər-ˌbəs How to pronounce blunderbuss (audio)
Definition of blunderbussnext
as in butcher
someone who bungles an effort leave it to that blunderbuss to bungle a job that a child could do

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of blunderbuss The blunderbuss of violations of the basic decorum and dignity of democracy have become such a daily matter that the increasingly familiar response is to sigh and surrender. — Adam Gopnik, New Yorker, 13 Oct. 2026 Trump would also stop treating the Europeans as enemies with his blunderbuss tariffs. — Trudy Rubin, Mercury News, 15 Aug. 2025 Cost cutting ‘blunderbuss’ DOGE is part of a long line of presidential efforts to take an ax to the administrative state. — Zac Anderson, USA TODAY, 11 Feb. 2025 Colman is Edith Swan, a middle-aged church lady who still lives with her blunderbuss of a father (Timothy Spall) and mild-mannered mother (Gemma Jones) in a working-class neighborhood of Littlehampton. — Ty Burr, Washington Post, 4 Apr. 2024 See All Example Sentences for blunderbuss
Recent Examples of Synonyms for blunderbuss
  1. butcher
  2. incompetent
Noun
  • Sabrina came from a high-status family of scholars, and Phillip, the struggling musician and child of butchers, wasn’t enough for her family.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 16 Oct. 2026
  • Independent grocery stores and butchers that use the same refrigeration system may also have been affected.
    — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 13 Oct. 2026
Definition of butcher
Noun
  • The Dodgers reached the pinnacle honestly, in a capitalistic structure that properly hands no favors to the incompetent.
    — Bruce Jenkins, San Francisco Chronicle, 18 Jan. 2026
Definition of incompetent

Browse Nearby Words

blunder
blunderbuss
blunderbusses
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Cite this Entry

“Blunderbuss.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/blunderbuss. Accessed 21 Oct. 2026.

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Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about blunderbuss

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