Verb (used without object) : Built on a former lake bed, the building has foundered nearly ten feet. ,The project foundered because public support was lacking. ,His mount foundered on the rocky path.    From Dictionary.com. 

Verb (used with object) : Rough seas had foundered the ship in mid-ocean.    From Dictionary.com. 

So my mind sinks in this immensity: and foundering is sweet in such a sea.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Raptures of a Tragic Visionary] Reference

So after eight straight losses when you read some of the press about what's going on with the Hillary Clinton campaign, the word foundering is seen a lot.    From Wordnik.com.  [CNN Transcript Feb 13, 2008] Reference

Neglect of this precaution may cause "foundering," which has ruined many a fine horse.    From Wordnik.com.  [Outdoor Sports and Games] Reference

"foundering" and that Europe's days as a world power are over.    From Wordnik.com.  [Democracy Journal] Reference

But the effort to enact this reform is foundering.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Eye Of The Storm] Reference

Its Nordic neighbor, meanwhile, was foundering badly.    From Wordnik.com.  [Battle Of The Nordic Giants] Reference

At first it was supposed that many had gone down in the foundering of the.    From Wordnik.com.  [Billie Bradley on Lighthouse Island The Mystery of the Wreck] Reference

Witness the foundering Saadet, which polls around 4 percent of the electorate.    From Wordnik.com.  [Eyes On Turkey] Reference

The great prosperity, the honor of the house, everything was foundering in a moment.    From Wordnik.com.  [The French Immortals Series — Complete] Reference

It was foundering in its debt as a dying empire and the entire country sickened him.    From Wordnik.com.  [An Apostate: Nawin of Thais] Reference

His campaign is foundering, he's desperate, and so he's decided to play the Ground Zero card.    From Wordnik.com.  [Dan Collins: New York GOP Sinks to New Low on Ground Zero Politics] Reference

Our commoner is William Thacker (Hugh Grant), who owns a foundering travel bookstore in London.    From Wordnik.com.  [In Love In London Town] Reference

For the man had come to a pause, after describing how many shouted that the ship was foundering.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Motor Girls on Waters Blue Or the Strange Cruise of the Tartar] Reference

Left-handed with him (one who ever was contradictious of Ciaran) they saw a ship foundering in their sight.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran Translations Of Christian Literature. Series V. Lives Of The Celtic Saints] Reference

Here are two highly regarded businessmen, obviously intelligent and well-informed, foundering in their jobs.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Myth Of The Super-Ceo] Reference

American officials keep sounding alarms: Japan's economy must grow to help rescue its foundering Asian neighbors '.    From Wordnik.com.  [Mighty Fall] Reference

The couple is first acquainted with the blond, curly-haired DJ when he is 3 years old and foundering in foster care.    From Wordnik.com.  [Home Is Where The Heart Is] Reference

After all, they prove that sophisticated investors are willing to plunge billions of dollars into a foundering sector.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Age of Grand Dilution] Reference

Like the rest of the country, New York has suffered from foundering retail sales and the less-than-robust housing market.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Bonus Babies Are Back] Reference

Russia is playing this new Great Game with ruthless brilliance and we — the United States and Europe — are foundering.    From Wordnik.com.  [This Isn’t the Return of History] Reference

"The ship called Japan is in peril of foundering with Captain Mori at the helm," said an editorial in the Asahi newspaper.    From Wordnik.com.  [Searching The Depths] Reference

Education experts say that South Korea's public secondary-school system is foundering, while private education is thriving.    From Wordnik.com.  [Cutthroat Classes] Reference

And my heart broke — for him, for Butchy, for the president, for all of them foundering through what they thought was right.    From Wordnik.com.  [O Saddam!] Reference

If all these shows suddenly just end up foundering, there may well be a real retraction, but I tend to be pretty positive about this.    From Wordnik.com.  [Fall TV Season Hits Highs, Lows With Diversity] Reference

Indeed, it was a most tremendous blow, and we were thrown into the utmost consternation from the apprehension of instantly foundering.    From Wordnik.com.  [Anson's Voyage Round the World The Text Reduced] Reference

In the 1980s the BNDES tried to bail out nearly a dozen big, foundering companies, including the steelworks Caraiba Metais and Cosinor.    From Wordnik.com.  [CONFLICTING SIGNALS] Reference

It may be left unsaid how far back the plans that where brought to light after the foundering of the Consular question, were in existence.    From Wordnik.com.  [The Swedish-Norwegian Union Crisis A History with Documents] Reference

But by the 1980s and '90s, HP was foundering, as first the PC revolution and then the Internet left it looking as relevant as a slide rule.    From Wordnik.com.  [Split Decision On A Slugfest] Reference

In Nigeria, the Philippines and once again in Pakistan, democracy is foundering amid massive corruption, weak government and a loss of public faith.    From Wordnik.com.  [How to Save Democracy] Reference

In the name of protecting Russia's nascent democratic institutions-not to mention his foundering presidency-Boris Yeltsin made some pretty autocratic moves last week.    From Wordnik.com.  [Can Autocracy Save Democracy?] Reference

A Spanish naval cutter came across them foundering in high seas, picked them up and took them to safety -- in precisely the place, ironically, that they were trying to reach.    From Wordnik.com.  [Living Underground] Reference

And any intervention close to home in the Gulf could make sovereign-wealth funds even more skittish about investing abroad in foundering U.S. banks, as they did late last year.    From Wordnik.com.  [Doubts About Dubai] Reference