Flounder

Noun

 * 1)  Any of various flatfish of the family Pleuronectidae or Bothidae.

Verb

 * 1)  To flop around as a fish out of water.
 * 2)  To make clumsy attempts to move or regain one's balance.
 * Robert yanked Connie's leg vigorously, causing her to flounder and eventually fall.
 * 1)  To act clumsily or confused; to struggle or be flustered.
 * He gave a good speech, but floundered when audience members asked questions he could not answer well.
 * 1) * 1996, Janette Turner Hospital, Oyster, Virago Press, paperback edition, page 136
 * He is assessing directions, but he is not lost, not floundering.

Adverbs for Flounder
bewilderingly; haphazardly; awkwardly; comically; clumsily; helplessly; wretchedly.

Thesaurus
agonize over, alternate, back and fill, be all thumbs, be at sea, be hard put, be uncertain, beat about, blunder, blunder away, blunder into, blunder on, blunder upon, boggle, botch, bumble, bungle, butcher, capsize, careen, career, come a cropper, commit a gaffe, doubt, ebb and flow, fall, fall down, fall flat, fall headlong, fall over, fall prostrate, falter, faux pas, feel unsure, flounce, fluctuate, fumble, get a cropper, go through phases, grope, grovel, have trouble, heave, hobbyhorse, labor, labor under difficulties, list, lumber, lurch, make heavy weather, mar, miscue, muddle, muff, murder, oscillate, pendulate, pitch, pitch and plunge, pitch and toss, play havoc with, plunge, pound, puzzle over, question, rear, reel, ring the changes, rock, roll, scend, seesaw, seethe, shift, shuffle, slip, spoil, sprawl, spread-eagle, stagger, strive, struggle, stumble, sway, swing, take a fall, take a flop, take a header, take a pratfall, take a spill, teeter, teeter-totter, thrash about, tilt, toil, topple, topple down, topple over, toss, toss and tumble, toss and turn, totter, travail, trip, tumble, turn, turn turtle, vacillate, vary, volutation, walk on eggshells, wallop, wallow, waver, wax and wane, welter, wobble, wonder, wonder whether, yaw

Etymology 1
From Old Norse flyðra:. Cognate with Danish flynder:, German Flunder:.

Noun

 * Asturian:
 * Basque: platuxa
 * Chinese:
 * Mandarin: 比目魚, 比目鱼
 * Danish:
 * Dutch: bot de
 * Finnish:
 * French:
 * German:
 * Greek: πλευρονήκτης (plevroniktis), (colloquial:) πησσί (pisi) , φάσσια
 * Hungarian:
 * Irish:


 * Italian:
 * Japanese: 平目, ヒラメ, もがき
 * Korean:
 * Latvian: plekste
 * Northern Sami: ,
 * Norwegian: ,
 * Polish:
 * Portuguese:
 * Russian:
 * Spanish: platija
 * Swedish:
 * Volapük:

Verb

 * Russian: барахтаться


 * Finnish:


 * Finnish:
 * Japanese: まごつく


 * Russian: сбиваться, сбиться