Meaning of stumble in English

Table of contents

Verb
stumble
Etymology
Middle English (as a verb): from Old Norse, from the Germanic base of stammer
Definitions
1. walk unsteadily
Examples
- « The drunk man stumbled about »
Derived terms
- lurch
- stagger
2. miss a step and fall or nearly fall
Examples
- « She stumbled over the tree root »
Derived terms
3. encounter by chance
Examples
- « I stumbled across a long-lost cousin last night in a restaurant »
4. make an error
Examples
- « She slipped up and revealed the name »
Derived terms
Noun
stumble
Definitions
1. an unsteady uneven gait
Derived terms
2. an unintentional but embarrassing blunder
Examples
- « he recited the whole poem without a single trip »
- « he arranged his robes to avoid a trip-up later »
- « confusion caused his unfortunate misstep »
Derived terms

Famous quotes

« It is by going down into the abyss that we recover the treasures of life. Where you stumble, there lies your treasure. »
Joseph Campbell
« Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on. »
Winston Churchill
« Strong, generous, and confident, she has nobly served mankind. Beware how you trifle with your marvellous inheritance, this great land of ordered liberty, for if we stumble and fall freedom and civilization everywhere will go down in ruin. »
Henry Cabot Lodge
« The whole thing about making films in an organic film on location is that it's not all about characters, relationships and themes, it's also about place and the poetry of place. It's about the spirit of what you find, the accidents of what you stumble across. »
Mike Leigh
« We occasionally stumble over the truth but most of us pick ourselves up and hurry off as if nothing had happened. »
Winston Churchill