What's the difference between fumble and grumble?

Fumble


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To feel or grope about; to make awkward attempts to do or find something.
  • (v. i.) To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly; as, to fumble for an excuse.
  • (v. i.) To handle much; to play childishly; to turn over and over.
  • (v. t.) To handle or manage awkwardly; to crowd or tumble together.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Jesús Navas played a one-two with Touré down the right and from his awkward cross the England squad goalkeeper fumbled the ball inside his six-yard area from where Fernando scored with an overhead kick as dextrous as it was surprising.
  • (2) And it's very nearly a huge play to open the game, as return man Kyle Williams fumbles the ball as he gets hit ... but manages to recover it himself.
  • (3) Suddenly the game seemed to be slipping away from the Ravens, matters going from bad to worse as Ray Rice fumbled at the Baltimore 24.
  • (4) As City fumble their hold on the Premier League trophy, United's grip tightens.
  • (5) January 7, 2014 SEC Football (@SECfootball) That fumble was a very Heisman-like fumble.
  • (6) Lofts it into the box and Barthez fumbles, gathers, then releases Henry.
  • (7) Instagram in particular came to gain from Flickr’s fumble.
  • (8) When Kerry arrived in Paris, he rushed to warmly embrace the French president, but when Hollande went to give Kerry a typical French greeting ( une bise ), Kerry fumbled – and for a moment it looked like the two men were about to start french kissing for real.
  • (9) They go back to James a play later and he's in trouble, but spins into space before dropping the ball - FUMBLE!
  • (10) Another hostage, Joel Herat, screamed “He’s chasing us!” as Morton-Hoffman fumbled to open the main door.
  • (11) It began with a turnover, as Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson fumbled away possession on the very first play, and effectively ended with one too, Smith’s interception killing San Francisco’s final comeback attempt with just 22 seconds left to play.
  • (12) 49ers 20-10 Panthers, 8:53, 3rd quarter Kaepernick fumbles on the next drive!
  • (13) They had started with a short field after Terrelle Thomas intercepted Terrelle Pryor, taking the ball back on a helter-skelter return which ended with the defender fumbling the ball at the Oakland five-yard line, only for officials to rule that he had been down by contact.
  • (14) US oil spill inquiry chief slams BP 11 November Ex-BP boss says when oil spill hit, BP was forced to make up disaster response as it went along Tony Hayward: Public saw us as 'fumbling and incompetent' 12 November Greenland wants upfront payment to cover major oil spills in wake of BP's Gulf of Mexico disaster Greenland wants $2bn bond from oil firms keen to drill in its Arctic waters 24 November Ken Feinberg expects to pay out only $2.3bn in emergency claims over Gulf of Mexico oil spill from $20bn fund Half of BP oil spill damages claims 'inadequate', says payout chief 25 November Tar balls discovered in shrimping net seven months after BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill Section of Gulf of Mexico closed to shrimpers after tar balls found 15 December The US government files a suit against BP and several of its partners in the Gulf of Mexico oil disaster.
  • (15) Having just praised the Saints for their cautious gameplan, it backfires spectacularly – Mark Ingram fumbling on a carry up the middle.
  • (16) It was as much as I could do to stop myself giggling as the bemused caller lost his thread and started fumbling for words.
  • (17) It would be fair to say that, over time, we fumbled into the cluster,” he adds.
  • (18) I guess you could make that link superficially, because I'm dark as well, and we're roughly the same age, and when she's fumbling around I can see why people might go there.
  • (19) Labour may promote more women, but more than one cabinet minister needed his women staff protected from slobbery kisses and aggressive fumblings.
  • (20) All payouts for specific performances in a game, including interceptions or causing fumbles, are against NFL rules.

Grumble


Definition:

  • (v. i.) To murmur or mutter with discontent; to make ill-natured complaints in a low voice and a surly manner.
  • (v. i.) To growl; to snarl in deep tones; as, a lion grumbling over his prey.
  • (v. i.) To rumble; to make a low, harsh, and heavy sound; to mutter; as, the distant thunder grumbles.
  • (v. t.) To express or utter with grumbling.
  • (n.) The noise of one that grumbles.
  • (n.) A grumbling, discontented disposition.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Should I man up, chuck out the Union flags and get back to grumbling about the Games?
  • (2) I have weekly massages to iron out all the bumps and grumbles in my legs.
  • (3) But the huge shortfalls, and the grumblings of African countries, are not going to matter as much in Washington as the fact that Obama can claim that he went face to face with China – and won.
  • (4) Although, among jobbing-actor roles in series such as Casualty, Lovejoy and Inspector Morse, he also appeared in the Dennis Potter drama Cream in My Coffee (1980), with Peggy Ashcroft; a TV version of Mr Jekyll and Hyde (1990) and Ending Up (1989), based on the Kingsley Amis novel about old buffers going grumbling to their doom.
  • (5) No: people want to see live animals!” The purists will grumble.
  • (6) The couple were not married, and there were grumblings that, with no official status as first lady, she should not be spending money on her five personal assistants and the running of an independent office in the Elysée.
  • (7) Stop grumbling about renewables and unlock the opportunities they offer.
  • (8) The companies would be in no position to grumble about unfair tactics since they are guilty of worse.
  • (9) West Ham's manager of three years, who steered the team to a 13th-place finish this season after flirting with relegation for long periods, held talks with the co-chairman David Sullivan on Tuesday amid grumbling supporters' discontent at the style of football the side have played.
  • (10) Shirburn grumbled, Ayer apologised, the tanks rolled on.
  • (11) "Diane sold her principles by sending her kids to private school and spending a lot of time on the box cosying up to Michael Portillo, making comments for the sake of projection on TV," one grumbled, anonymously, yesterday.
  • (12) Starting with the visit of Canadian rivals Toronto FC , who grumbled their way through last week’s home defeat by KC and whose mood won’t have been improved by a 3-0 thrashing in DC in midweek.
  • (13) "Bilge," he grumbled when another student wanted to know about his links with a lobbying firm that later worked for Colonel Gaddafi.
  • (14) They'd grumble, but that's business, as it happens every day.
  • (15) Since Peter Hall was allowed leaves of absence for other projects by sometimes grumbling chairmen ( as charted in his published Diaries ), there has been an emphasis on the job being full-time.
  • (16) There were authors grumbling about not going to the Oscars .
  • (17) Recent collaboration between traditionally fractious teaching unions to oppose cuts to the school rebuilding programme gained more traction than the usual grumbles about pay because it spoke to parents as well as professionals.
  • (18) He has grumbled a lot about obstruction by the civil service, but not actually done much about it.
  • (19) English friends had explained to me, not without pride, the importance of grumbling to the national character, but I still want to stress to every Londoner I meet that — take it from a visiting Los Angeleno — the tube exists, and that counts as no trifling achievement.
  • (20) Jeremy Hunt grumbled that because patients would not know their out-of-hours doctors, they would opt to go to A&E instead.