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boulette

meatball, croquette

noun boo-LET Rare

Also means

blunder, mistake (informal)

Usage Note

Boulette literally means a small ball of food — minced meat, rice, or cheese rolled into a ball. Informally, faire une boulette is a very common expression meaning to make a blunder or mess something up, equivalent to 'to drop a clanger'. The base word boule (ball) underlies both senses.

Examples

"Il a fait une grosse boulette au bureau."

Natural Translation

He made a big blunder at the office.

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