boo-boo

American

[boo-boo] / ˈbuˌbu /

noun

Slang.

plural

boo-boos

a minor injury; owie.

My dad was doing dishes and kissing boo-boos way back in the 1960s.
a stupid or silly mistake; blunder.

Even people with loads of sewing experience make boo-boos when creating a piece!

Synonyms:

slip-up, slip, screwup, goof, fumble, fluff, flub

boo-boo British

noun

informal an embarrassing mistake; blunder

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of boo-boo

An Americanism dating back to 1950–55; baby talk

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

It might be your internet company’s fault, a boo-boo with your home equipment or interference from your neighbor’s Call of Duty game night.

From Washington Post • Mar. 3, 2023

“Then everybody put a boo-boo on that. They said: ‘What are you doing, ratting on about that?’

From The Guardian • Mar. 23, 2020

The boo-boo in question was John Travolta's notorious introduction of singer Idina Menzel in 2014 as "the one and only Adele Dazeem".

From BBC • Feb. 11, 2020

Then, if he jumps from bed to bed and gets a little boo-boo, ‘That’s what you get.’

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 6, 2019

“What? That I have a boo-boo and need to go home? Forget it, Kyle Keeley. You’re not going to beat me that easily.”

From "Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library" by Chris Grabenstein

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023