flounder

verb/ˈflaʊndər/

Frequency rank: #16,000 of 20,003 in the WORDED list (wordfreq data)

Meaning

to struggle or move clumsily; to be in serious difficulty without knowing what to do.

Illustration for the English word “flounder”

Example sentence

Without proper guidance, new employees often flounder during their first few weeks on the job.

Synonyms & related words

More words in ranks 15,901–16,000