Meaning & use
bloopers
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“bloopers” is a form of “blooper”. See that entry for the full set of meanings.
Meanings
nounusually pluralinformal
Embarrassing mistakes, especially ones made while filming or broadcasting, that people find funny when they are shown later.
Grammar: Usually plural, as in a reel of bloopers; the singular is a blooper.
Patterns
- bloopers from something
- a reel of bloopers
The DVD ended with ten minutes of bloopers from the film set.
The presenter laughed at the bloopers the studio played at the end of the year.
My favorite part of the show is the bloopers over the closing credits.
nounusually pluralinformal
Silly errors that anyone makes in speaking or writing, such as a wrong word or a slip of the tongue.
Grammar: Often used for public slips: the speech was full of bloopers.
Patterns
- make a blooper
- bloopers in something
The newsletter was full of bloopers, including a wrong date on the front page.
He made a few bloopers during his speech, but the audience was kind.
Word forms
| singular | blooper |
|---|
Common combinations
- blooper reel
- The blooper reel had the whole cast laughing.
- funny bloopers
- We watched funny bloopers on the internet all evening.
- film bloopers
- Film bloopers often show actors forgetting their lines.
- outtakes and bloopers
- The bonus disc includes outtakes and bloopers.
- make a blooper
- Even experts make a blooper now and then.
Synonyms and how they differ
- outtakes
- Outtakes are any scenes cut from a film, and not all of them are mistakes, whereas bloopers are specifically the funny errors.
- gaffes
- Gaffes are embarrassing social or public mistakes, often serious for a politician, while bloopers are lighter and usually amusing.
- slip-ups
- Slip-ups are small, ordinary errors with no sense of being filmed or shown to others.
- howlers
- Howlers are glaring mistakes that make people laugh, especially in school work, and are a bit more old-fashioned and British than bloopers.
Word family
- blooper noun
- one embarrassing mistake
- blooper reel noun
- a video of mistakes from a production
Commonly confused: bloopers or blunders?
bloopers vs blunders
Blunders are usually serious, costly mistakes, while bloopers are funny or embarrassing ones that do little harm.
Practice
The cast watched the ___ at the end-of-season party and laughed at every forgotten line.
Choose one answer.
Bloopers are funny filming mistakes shown for fun. Blunders suggests serious errors, and verdicts and sequels do not describe mistakes at all.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “bloopers”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.