Founder, Foundered, Flounder

“America’s founding fathers did not intend to take religion out of education. Many of the nation’s greatest universities were founded by evangelists and religious leaders; but many of these have lost the founders concept and become secular institutions. Because of this attitude, secular education is tumbling and floundering.” –Billy Graham

Founder functions as a noun, and verb; and has two distinct meanings.

Founder as a verb means to fail very badly (she foundered in the match by making silly mistakes), collapse (the proposal foundered at the critical stage of implementation), sink below the surface, failing or breaking down miserably, literally, metaphorically (People founder. Gaming animals that are favourites often founder in the big races.)

Founder as a noun refers to a person who has founded something (that was not there before), someone who establishes an organization, an institution, a charity among others.

Mother Teresa is the founder of Missionaries of Charity.

Who is/are the founder of the United Nations?

The Founding Father in the USA is one of the members of the Constitutional Convention which drafted the Constitution in 1787: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, James Madison…

Founder is laminitis: an inflammation attaching the hoof to the foot of a horse.

Founder is the person who makes metal castings.

Foundry (or foundery) is the place where metal castings or metal works are produced.

Once upon a time at Gun Foundry in Hyderabad founders (metal casters) worked but now it has changed.

Foundering is a noun. Foundering means sinking, failing badly, and going under.

Economic recession is the time when many corporations and banks founder, unless they are resistant to foundering.

The past tense and past participle of the verb founder are foundered, and foundered (founder-foundered-foundered) meaning tripping, trip up, stumble, tumbling.

Media reports when ships or yachts or luxury boats are foundered and deaths occur. Foundered means capsized, lost at sea, submerged; when something fails.

The Titanic foundered.

Flounder functions as a noun and verb. As a verb, flounder means to move clumsily, to walk with difficulty, to commit a mistake, to make a blunder, behave awkwardly.

Floundering is endemic in human beings but many of them preclude as a result of one’s upbringing and learning.
Some people learn from their mistakes and avoid floundering.

Flounder as a noun is a type of fish, a flat fish.

How many times have you floundered in your life?

Psychologists are relentlessly finding answers to avoid floundering, and solutions such as advising people to stay focussed in the chosen tracks of life, stop making excuses, creating action plans…