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'Founder' means 'to sink' or 'to collapse' or 'to fail.' 'Flounder' means 'to struggle to move' or 'to proceed clumsily.' We explain the difference between these two commonly confused words.
May 27, 2013 · The source of “founder” was the Old French “fondrer,” meaning “submerge, send to the bottom,” and its ultimate root is the Latin “fundus,” meaning “bottom” (which also gave us the words “foundation,” “found” and “fundamental,” among others).
Sep 28, 2017 · flounder. (v.) "struggle awkwardly and impotently," especially when hampered somehow, 1590s, of uncertain origin, perhaps from an alteration of founder (n.), influenced by Dutch flodderen "to flop about," or native verbs in fl- expressing clumsy motion. Figurative use is from 1680s.
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“Many people flounderabout in life because they do not have a purpose, an objective toward which to work.” (George Halas)The Turkish man-of-war Ertogrul founderedat sea and 500 members of her crew were drowned.Archie Hobson It is easy to confuse the words founder and flounder, not only because they sound similar but also because the contexts in which they are used tend to overlap. Founder means, in its g...The American Heritage Dictionary of the English LanguageThe verbs founder and flounder are often confused. Founder comes from a Latin word meaning 'bottom' (as in foundation) and originally referre...(a) The horse [floundered or foundered] _____ around in the soft snow, whinnying frantically.(b) The Carpathia was 58 miles from the Titanic when it received the distress call from the [floundering or foundering] _____ ship.(a) The horse flounderedaround in the soft snow, whinnying frantically.(b) The Carpathia was 58 miles from the Titanic when it received the distress call from the founderingship.(Founder and foundation have the same root.) To founder is to collapse, sink, or fail. One source of confusion here is that the meaning of the verb flounder is similar: to flounder is to struggle to move or get one's footing, or to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually.
What is the Difference Between Founder and Flounder? In this post, I will compare founder vs. flounder. I will use each word in an example sentence that shows it in its proper context, and I will also show you a memory tool that makes choosing founder or flounder easier for your own writing.
Apr 22, 2012 · To flounder is “to struggle or thrash about,” while to founder is “to sink or to fail.” Surprisingly, the verb flounder shares no etymological root with the fish, though the image of a flounder flapping helplessly about on the shore may have influenced our sense of the word.
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