Fumble vs. Pass — What's the Difference?

A fumble in gridiron football occurs when a player who has possession and control of the ball loses it before being downed (tackled), scoring, or going out of bounds. By rule, it is any act other than passing, kicking, punting, or successful handing that results in loss of ball possession by a player.

To move on or ahead; proceed

To touch or handle nervously or idly

To extend; run

To grope awkwardly to find or to accomplish something

To move by or in front of something

To proceed awkwardly and uncertainly; blunder

To move past another vehicle

(Football) To drop a ball that is in play.

To gain passage despite obstacles

(Baseball) To mishandle a ground ball.

To move past in time; elapse

To touch or handle clumsily or idly

To be transferred from one to another; circulate

To make a mess of; bungle.

(Sports) To transfer a ball or puck to a teammate.

To feel or make (one's way) awkwardly.

To be communicated or exchanged between persons

(Football) To drop (a ball) while in play.

To be transferred or conveyed to another by will or deed

(Baseball) To mishandle (a ground ball).

To undergo transition from one condition, form, quality, or characteristic to another

The act or an instance of fumbling.

To come to an end

(Sports) A ball that has been fumbled.

To cease to exist; die. Often used with on

To handle nervously or awkwardly.

To happen; take place

To grope awkwardly in trying to find something

To be allowed to happen without notice or challenge

(intransitive) To blunder uncertainly.

Sports & Games To decline one's turn to bid, draw, bet, compete, or play.

To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly.

To decline an offer

To drop a ball or a baton etc. by accident.

To undergo an examination or a trial with favorable results.

To handle much; to play childishly; to turn over and over.

To serve as a barely acceptable substitute

Of a man, to sexually underperform.

To be accepted as a member of a group by denying one's own ancestry or background.

A ball etc. that has been dropped by accident.

To be approved or adopted

(British) A dessert similar to a cross between a fool and a crumble.

To make a decision

To feel or grope about; to make awkward attempts to do or find something.

To convey property to an heir or heirs

To grope about in perplexity; to seek awkwardly; as, to fumble for an excuse.

(Medicine) To be discharged from a bodily part

To handle much; to play childishly; to turn over and over.

(Sports) To thrust or lunge in fencing.

To handle or manage awkwardly; to crowd or tumble together.

To go by without stopping; proceed beyond or leave behind

(sports) dropping the ball

To go across; go through

Feel about uncertainly or blindly;

To allow to go by or elapse; spend

Make one's way clumsily or blindly;

To go by without paying attention to; disregard or ignore

Handle clumsily

To fail to pay (a dividend).

Make a mess of, destroy or ruin;

To go beyond; surpass

Drop or juggle or fail to play cleanly a grounder;

To undergo (a trial or examination) with favorable results

To cause or allow to go through a trial, test, or examination successfully

To cause to move

To cause to move into a certain position

To cause to move as part of a process

To cause to go by

To allow to cross a barrier

(Baseball) To walk (a batter).

To maneuver (the bull) by means of a pase in bullfighting.

To cause to be transferred from one to another; circulate

To hand over to someone else

(Sports) To transfer (a ball, for example) to a teammate, as by throwing.

To cause to be accepted; circulate fraudulently

(Law) To convey (property) to an heir or heirs

(Medicine) To discharge (a waste product, for example) from a bodily part.

(Medicine) To introduce (an instrument) into a bodily cavity.

To approve; adopt

To be sanctioned, ratified, or approved by

To pronounce; utter

The act of passing; passage.

A way, such as a narrow gap between mountains, that affords passage around, over, or through a barrier.

A permit, ticket, or authorization to come and go at will.

A free ticket entitling one to transportation or admission.

Written leave of absence from military duty.

A passing grade, especially when graded using a pass-fail grading system.

A sweep or run, as by an aircraft, over or toward an area or target.

A single complete cycle of operations, as by a machine or computer program.

A condition or situation, often critical in nature; a predicament

A sexual invitation or overture

A motion of the hand or the waving of a wand

(Sports) A transfer of a ball or puck between teammates.

(Sports) A lunge or thrust in fencing.

(Baseball) A base on balls.

Sports & Games A refusal to bid, draw, bet, compete, or play.

(Games) A winning throw of the dice in craps.

A pase in bullfighting.

To change place.

(intransitive) To move or be moved from one place to another.

(transitive) To go past, by, over, or through; to proceed from one side to the other of; to move past.

(ditransitive) To cause to move or go; to send; to transfer from one person, place, or condition to another.

To eliminate (something) from the body by natural processes.

To take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure.

(sport) To make various kinds of movement.

(intransitive) To go from one person to another.

(transitive) To put in circulation; to give currency to.

To cause to obtain entrance, admission, or conveyance.

To put through a sieve.

To change in state or status

(intransitive) To progress from one state to another; to advance.

(intransitive) To depart, to cease, to come to an end.

(intransitive) To die.

To achieve a successful outcome from.

To advance through all the steps or stages necessary to become valid or effective; to obtain the formal sanction of (a legislative body).

To be conveyed or transferred by will, deed, or other instrument of conveyance.

(transitive) To cause to advance by stages of progress; to carry on with success through an ordeal, examination, or action; specifically, to give legal or official sanction to; to ratify; to enact; to approve as valid and just.

To make a judgment on or upon a person or case.

(transitive) To utter; to pronounce; to pledge.

(intransitive) To change from one state to another (without the implication of progression).

To move through time.

To elapse, to be spent.

To spend.

(transitive) To go by without noticing; to omit attention to; to take no note of; to disregard.

(intransitive) To continue.

(intransitive) To proceed without hindrance or opposition.

(transitive) To live through; to have experience of; to undergo; to suffer.

(intransitive) To happen.

To be accepted.

To be tolerated as a substitute for something else, to "do".

To be accepted by others as a member of a race, sex, or other group to which one does not belong or would not have originally appeared to belong; especially to be considered white although one has black ancestry, or a woman although one was assigned male at birth or vice versa.

To refrain from doing something.

(intransitive) To decline something that is offered or available.

(transitive) To reject; to pass up.

(intransitive) To decline or not attempt to answer a question.

(intransitive) In turn-based games, to decline to play in one's turn.

In euchre, to decline to make the trump.

To do or be better.

To go beyond bounds; to surpass; to be in excess.

(transitive) To transcend; to surpass; to excel; to exceed.

To take heed, to have an interest, to care.

An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier such as a mountain range; a passageway; a defile; a ford.

A channel connecting a river or body of water to the sea, for example at the mouth (delta) of a river.

A single movement, especially of a hand, at, over, or along anything.

A single passage of a tool over something, or of something over a tool.

An attempt.

Success in an examination or similar test.

(fencing) A thrust or push; an attempt to stab or strike an adversary.

(figuratively) A thrust; a sally of wit.

A sexual advance.

(sports) The act of moving the ball or puck from one player to another.

(rail transport) A passing of two trains in the same direction on a single track, when one is put into a siding to let the other overtake it.

Permission or license to pass, or to go and come.

A document granting permission to pass or to go and come; a passport; a ticket permitting free transit or admission

(baseball) An intentional walk.

(sports) The act of overtaking; an overtaking manoeuvre.

The state of things; condition; predicament; impasse.

(obsolete) Estimation; character.

(cookery) The area in a restaurant kitchen where the finished dishes are passed from the chefs to the waiting staff.

An act of declining to play one's turn in a game, often by saying the word "pass".

(computing) A run through a document as part of a translation, compilation or reformatting process.

A password (especially one for a restricted-access website).

To go; to move; to proceed; to be moved or transferred from one point to another; to make a transit; - usually with a following adverb or adverbal phrase defining the kind or manner of motion; as, to pass on, by, out, in, etc.; to pass swiftly, directly, smoothly, etc.; to pass to the rear, under the yoke, over the bridge, across the field, beyond the border, etc.

To move or be transferred from one state or condition to another; to change possession, condition, or circumstances; to undergo transition; as, the business has passed into other hands.

To move beyond the range of the senses or of knowledge; to pass away; hence, to disappear; to vanish; to depart; specifically, to depart from life; to die.

To move or to come into being or under notice; to come and go in consciousness; hence, to take place; to occur; to happen; to come; to occur progressively or in succession; to be present transitorily.

To go by or glide by, as time; to elapse; to be spent; as, their vacation passed pleasantly.

To go from one person to another; hence, to be given and taken freely; as, clipped coin will not pass; to obtain general acceptance; to be held or regarded; to circulate; to be current; - followed by for before a word denoting value or estimation.

To advance through all the steps or stages necessary to validity or effectiveness; to be carried through a body that has power to sanction or reject; to receive legislative sanction; to be enacted; as, the resolution passed; the bill passed both houses of Congress.

To go through any inspection or test successfully; to be approved or accepted; as, he attempted the examination, but did not expect to pass.

To be suffered to go on; to be tolerated; hence, to continue; to live along.

To go unheeded or neglected; to proceed without hindrance or opposition; as, we let this act pass.

To go beyond bounds; to surpass; to be in excess.

To take heed; to care.

To go through the intestines.

To be conveyed or transferred by will, deed, or other instrument of conveyance; as, an estate passes by a certain clause in a deed.

To make a lunge or pass; to thrust.

To decline to play in one's turn; in euchre, to decline to make the trump.

To go by, beyond, over, through, or the like; to proceed from one side to the other of; as, to pass a house, a stream, a boundary, etc.

To go by without noticing; to omit attention to; to take no note of; to disregard.

To cause to move or go; to send; to transfer from one person, place, or condition to another; to transmit; to deliver; to hand; to make over; as, the waiter passed bisquit and cheese; the torch was passed from hand to hand.

To transcend; to surpass; to excel; to exceed.

To cause to pass the lips; to utter; to pronounce; hence, to promise; to pledge; as, to pass sentence.

To emit from the bowels; to evacuate.

To go successfully through, as an examination, trail, test, etc.; to obtain the formal sanction of, as a legislative body; as, he passed his examination; the bill passed the senate.

To cause to advance by stages of progress; to carry on with success through an ordeal, examination, or action; specifically, to give legal or official sanction to; to ratify; to enact; to approve as valid and just; as, he passed the bill through the committee; the senate passed the law.

To take a turn with (a line, gasket, etc.), as around a sail in furling, and make secure.

To make, as a thrust, punto, etc.

An opening, road, or track, available for passing; especially, one through or over some dangerous or otherwise impracticable barrier; a passageway; a defile; a ford; as, a mountain pass.

A thrust or push; an attempt to stab or strike an adversary.

A movement of the hand over or along anything; the manipulation of a mesmerist.

A single passage of a bar, rail, sheet, etc., between the rolls.

State of things; condition; predicament.

Permission or license to pass, or to go and come; a psssport; a ticket permitting free transit or admission; as, a railroad or theater pass; a military pass.

Fig.: a thrust; a sally of wit.

Estimation; character.

A part; a division.

In football, hockey, and other team sports, a transfer of the ball, puck, etc., to another player of one's own team, usually at some distance. In American football, the pass is through the air by an act of throwing the ball.

(baseball) an advance to first base by a batter who receives four balls;

(military) a written leave of absence;

(American football) a play that involves one player throwing the ball to a teammate;

The location in a range of mountains of a geological formation that is lower than the surrounding peaks;

Any authorization to pass or go somewhere;

A document indicating permission to do something without restrictions;

A flight or run by an aircraft over a target;

A bad or difficult situation or state of affairs

A difficult juncture;

One complete cycle of operations (as by a computer);

You advance to the next round in a tournament without playing an opponent;

A permit to enter or leave a military installation;

A complementary (free) ticket;

A usually brief attempt;

(sports) the act of throwing the ball to another member of your team;

Success in satisfying a test or requirement;

Go across or through;

Pass by;

Make laws, bills, etc. or bring into effect by legislation;

Pass by;

Place into the hands or custody of;

Stretch out over a distance, space, time, or scope; run or extend between two points or beyond a certain point;

Travel past;

Come to pass;

Go unchallenged; be approved;

Pass (time) in a specific way;

Guide or pass over something;

Transmit information ;

Disappear gradually;

Go successfully through a test or a selection process;

Go beyond;

Accept or judge as acceptable;

Allow to go without comment or censure;

Transfer to another; of rights or property;

Pass into a specified state or condition;

Be identified, regarded, accepted, or mistaken for someone or something else; as by denying one's own ancestry or background;

Throw (a ball) to another player;

Be inherited by;

Cause to pass;

Grant authorization or clearance for;

Pass from physical life and lose all all bodily attributes and functions necessary to sustain life;

Eliminate from the body;

Of advancing the ball by throwing it;