Screwup

noun, slang

noun, slang ·Moderate ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A substantial mistake, usually causing problems for more people than just the person or group who made it. colloquial

    "The Ford administration emerged in better shape than it deserved from the fantastic screw-up that preceded the release of the Rockefeller..."

  2. 2
    the complete mismanagement or mishandling of a situation wordnet
  3. 3
    A person who often makes substantial mistakes; a bungler. colloquial
  4. 4
    A person who is mentally or emotionally damaged. colloquial

Synonyms

All synonyms
fuckupmess-upaberrationalcatoteaufbarbarism

Example

More examples

"The Ford administration emerged in better shape than it deserved from the fantastic screw-up that preceded the release of the Rockefeller..."

Etymology

Deverbal from screw up.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.