Meanings
nounbumbledom (countable and uncountable, plural bumbledoms)
plural bumbledoms
- countableuncountablebureaucracy; mannerisms characteristic of pompous, arrogant or pretentious officials.
With the meekness went a strain of mild obstinacy exquisitely calculated to infuriate the self-important bumbledom of that time, as when the Friends refused to remove their hats before the Court that was to try them.
1942, G.M. Trevelyan, Illustrated English Social History, Digitized edition, Longman's Green and Co., published 2003
Origin
From Mr. Bumble, a character in Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, + -dom.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
bumbledom. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bumbledom
MLA
“bumbledom.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bumbledom. Accessed November 2, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bumbledom,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bumbledom.
Source: bumbledom on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.