N. unskillfulness, want of skill, incompetence, incompentency, inability, infelicity, indexterity, inexperience, disqualification, unproficiency, quackery, folly, stupidity, indiscretion, thoughtlessness (neglect) 460, sabotage, mismanagement, misconduct, impolicy, maladministration, misrule, misgovernment, misapplication, misdirection, misfeasance, petticoat government, absence of rule, rule of thumb, bungling, failure, screw loose, too many cooks, blunder, etourderie gaucherie, act of folly, balourdise, botch, botchery, bad job, sad work, sprat sent out to catch a whale, much ado about nothing, wild-goose chase, bungler, fool

V. be unskillful, not see an inch beyond one's nose, blunder, bungle, boggle, fumble, botch, bitch, flounder, stumble, trip, hobble, put one's foot in it, make a mess of, make hash of, make sad work of, overshoot the mark, play tricks with, play puck, mismanage, misconduct, misdirect, misapply, missend, stultify oneself, make a fool of oneself, commit oneself, act foolishly, play the fool, put oneself out of court, lose control, lose control of oneself, lose one's head, lose one's cunning, begin at the wrong end, do things by halves, make two bites of a cherry, play at cross purposes, strain at a gnat and swallow a camel, put the cart before the horse, lock the stable door when the horse is stolen, not know what one is about, not know one's own interest, not know on which side one's bread is buttered, stand in one's own light, quarrel with one's bread and butter, throw a stone in one's own garden, kill the goose which lays the golden eggs, pay dear for one's whistle, cut one's own throat, bum one's fingers, knock one's head against a stone wall, beat one's head against a stone wall, fall into a trap, catch a tartar, bring the house about one's ears, have too many eggs in one basket (imprudent) 863, have too many irons in the fire, mistake, take the shadow for the substance, bark up the wrong tree, be in the wrong box, aim at a pigeon and kill a crow, take the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong pig by the tail, get the wrong sow by the ear, get the dirty end of the stick, put the saddle on the wrong horse, put a square peg into a round hole, put new wine into old bottles, cut blocks with a razor, hold a farthing candle to the sun, fight with a shadow, grasp at a shadow, catch at straws, lean on a broken reed, reckon without one's host, pursue a wild goose chase, go on a fool's goose chase, sleeveless errand, go further and fare worse, lose one's way, miss one's way, fail

Adj. unskillful, inexpert, bungling, awkward, clumsy, unhandy, lubberly, gauche, maladroit, left-handed, heavy-handed, slovenly, slatternly, gawky, adrift, at fault, inapt, unapt, inhabile, untractable, unteachable, giddy, inconsiderate, stupid, inactive, incompetent, unqualified, disqualified, ill-qualified, unfit, quackish, raw, green, inexperienced, rusty, out of practice, unaccustomed, unused, untrained, uninitiated, unconversant, shiftless, unstatesmanlike, unadvised, ill-advised, misadvised, ill-devised, ill-imagined, ill- judged, ill-contrived, ill-conducted, unguided, misguided, misconducted, foolish, wild, infelicitous, penny wise and pound foolish

Phr. one's fingers being all thumbs, the right hand forgets its cunning, il se noyerait dans une goutte d'eau, incidit in scyllam qui vult vitare charybdim, out of the frying pan into the fire, non omnia possumus omnes

N. rashness, temerity, want of caution, imprudence, indiscretion, overconfidence, presumption, audacity, precipitancy, precipitation, impetuosity, levity, foolhardihood, foolhardiness, heedlessness, thoughtlessness, carelessness, desperation, quixotism, knight-errantry, fire eating, gaming, gambling, blind bargain, leap in the dark, leap of faith, fool's paradise, too many eggs in one basket, desperado, rashling, madcap, daredevil, hotspur, fire eater, bully, bravo, hector, scapegrace, enfant perdu, don quixote, knight- errant, icarus, adventurer, gambler, gamester, dynamitard, boomer

V. be rash, stick at nothing, play a desperate game, run into danger, play with fire, play with edge tools, carry too much sail, sail too near the wind, ride at single anchor, go out of one's depth, take a leap in the dark, buy a pig in a poke, donner tete baissee, knock, one's bead against a wall, rush on destruction, kick against the pricks, tempt providence, go on a forlorn hope, go on a fool's errand, reckon one's chickens before they are hatched, count one's chickens before they are hatched, reckon without one's host, catch at straws, trust to a broken reed, lean on a broken reed

Adj. rash, incautious, indiscreet, imprudent, improvident, temerarious, uncalculating, heedless, careless, without ballast, heels over head, head over heels, giddy, wanton, reckless, wild, madcap, desperate, devil-may-care, hot-blooded, hotheaded, hotbrained, headlong, headstrong, breakneck, foolhardy, harebrained, precipitate, impulsive, overconfident, overweening, venturesome, venturous, adventurous, quixotic, fire eating, cavalier, janty, jaunty, free and easy, off one's guard

Adv. post haste, a corps perdu, hand over head, tete baissee, headforemost, happen what may, come what may

Phr. neck or nothing, the devil being in one, non semper temeritas est felix, paucis temeritas est bono multis malo

N. guilt, guiltiness, culpability, criminality, criminousness, deviation from rectitude, sinfulness, misconduct, misbehavior, misdoing, misdeed, malpractice, fault, sin, error, transgression, dereliction, delinquency, indiscretion, lapse, slip, trip, faux pas, peccadillo, flaw, blot, omission, failing, failure, break, bad break |, [U.S.], capital crime, delictum, offense, trespass, misdemeanor, misfeasance, misprision, malefaction, malfeasance, malversation, crime, felony, enormity, atrocity, outrage, deadly sin, mortal sin, "deed without a name", corpus delicti

Adj. guilty, to blame, culpable, peccable, in fault, at fault, censurable, reprehensible, blameworthy, uncommendable, illaudable, weighed in the balance and found wanting, exceptionable

Adv. in flagrante delicto, red-handed, in the very act, with one's hand in the cookie jar

Phr. cui prodest scelus in fecit, culpam paena premit comes, "o would the deed were good!", "responsibility prevents crimes" se judice nemo nocens absolvitur, "so many laws argues so many sins"