stumble

stumble
stumbler, n.stumblingly, adv.
/stum"beuhl/, v., stumbled, stumbling, n.
v.i.
1. to strike the foot against something, as in walking or running, so as to stagger or fall; trip.
2. to walk or go unsteadily: to stumble down a dark passage.
3. to make a slip, mistake, or blunder, esp. a sinful one: to stumble over a question; to stumble and fall from grace.
4. to proceed in a hesitating or blundering manner, as in action or speech (often fol. by along).
5. to discover or meet with accidentally or unexpectedly (usually fol. by on, upon, or across): They stumbled on a little village.
6. to falter or hesitate, as at an obstacle to progress or belief.
v.t.
7. to cause to stumble; trip.
8. to give pause to; puzzle or perplex.
n.
9. the act of stumbling.
10. a moral lapse or error.
11. a slip or blunder.
[1275-1325; ME stumblen; c. Norw stumla to grope and stumble in the dark; akin to STAMMER]

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • stumble — stumble, trip, blunder, lurch, flounder, lumber, galumph, lollop, bumble can mean to move unsteadily, clumsily, or with defective equilibrium (as in walking, in doing, or in proceeding). Stumble, trip, blunder, lurch, and flounder as applied to… …   New Dictionary of Synonyms

  • stumble on — ˈstumble a ˌcross ˈstumble on ˈstumble up ˌon [transitive] [present tense I/you/we/they stumble across he/she/it stumbles across pr …   Useful english dictionary

  • stumble — [stum′bəl] vi. stumbled, stumbling [ME stumblen < Scand, as in Norw dial. stumba, ON stumra < IE base * stem , to bump against, hamper > STAMMER, Ger stumm, Du stom, mute] 1. to trip or miss one s step in walking, running, etc. 2. to… …   English World dictionary

  • Stumble — Stum ble, v. t. 1. To cause to stumble or trip. [1913 Webster] 2. Fig.: To mislead; to confound; to perplex; to cause to err or to fall. [1913 Webster] False and dazzling fires to stumble men. Milton. [1913 Webster] One thing more stumbles me in… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Stumble — Stum ble, v. i. [imp. & p. p. {Stumbled}; p. pr. & vb. n. {Stumbling}.] [OE. stumblen, stomblen; freq. of a word akin to E. stammer. See {Stammer}.] 1. To trip in walking or in moving in any way with the legs; to strike the foot so as to fall, or …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • stumble — (v.) c.1300, to trip or miss one s footing (physically or morally), probably from a Scandinavian source (Cf. dialectal Norw. stumla, Swed. stambla to stumble ), probably from a variant of the P.Gmc. base *stam , source of O.E. stamerian to… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Stumble — Stum ble, n. 1. A trip in walking or running. [1913 Webster] 2. A blunder; a failure; a fall from rectitude. [1913 Webster] One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life. L Estrange. [1913 Webster] …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • Stumble — is Prakash Belawadi s debut film. It won the National Film Award for Best Feature Film in English in 2003. It depicts the new economy, the dot com bust, stock market scams, mutual funds, and voluntary retirement.The production team intended… …   Wikipedia

  • stumble — [v1] slip, stagger blunder, bumble, careen, err, fall, fall down, falter, flounder, hesitate, limp, lose balance, lumber, lurch, muddle, pitch, reel, shuffle, stammer, swing, tilt, topple, totter, trip, wallow, waver, wobble; concepts 101,181… …   New thesaurus

  • stumble — ► VERB 1) trip or momentarily lose one s balance. 2) walk unsteadily. 3) make a mistake or repeated mistakes in speaking. 4) (stumble across/on/upon) find by chance. ► NOUN ▪ an act of stumbling. ORIGIN …   English terms dictionary

  • stumble — index miscalculate, miscue, mistake Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

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