A blooper is a funny mistake, especially one caught on camera or recorded during a TV show, movie, or broadcast. When an actor forgets their lines and says something silly, or when a news anchor accidentally trips over their words, that's a blooper. These mistakes usually make everyone laugh, and sometimes they're collected into special “blooper reels” shown at the end of movies or during award shows.

The word also refers to a baseball hit high in the air that drops between infielders and outfielders for a lucky hit. It's called a blooper because of the odd, looping arc the ball takes.

In everyday life, you might call any embarrassing but harmless mistake a blooper: mispronouncing a word during your class presentation, walking into the wrong classroom, or accidentally calling your teacher “Mom.” Unlike serious errors, bloopers are the kind of mistakes that make people smile rather than worry. They remind us that everyone messes up sometimes, and these little slip-ups can become the moments we remember most fondly.