Stumble
['stʌmb(ə)l] or ['stʌmbl]
Definition
(verb.) make an error; 'She slipped up and revealed the name'.
(verb.) miss a step and fall or nearly fall; 'She stumbled over the tree root'.
(verb.) walk unsteadily; 'The drunk man stumbled about'.
(verb.) encounter by chance; 'I stumbled across a long-lost cousin last night in a restaurant'.
Edited by Juanita--From WordNet
Definition
(v. i.) To trip in walking or in moving in any way with the legs; to strike the foot so as to fall, or to endanger a fall; to stagger because of a false step.
(v. i.) To walk in an unsteady or clumsy manner.
(v. i.) To fall into a crime or an error; to err.
(v. i.) To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; -- with on, upon, or against.
(v. t.) To cause to stumble or trip.
(v. t.) Fig.: To mislead; to confound; to perplex; to cause to err or to fall.
(n.) A trip in walking or running.
(n.) A blunder; a failure; a fall from rectitude.
Checked by Blanchard
Synonyms and Synonymous
v. n. [1]. Trip, miss one's footing, make a false step.[2]. Err, do wrong.
n. [1]. Trip, false step.[2]. Error, blunder, failure.
Edited by Alexander
Definition
v.i. to strike the feet against something to trip in walking: to light on by chance (with upon): to slide into crime or error.—v.t. to cause to trip or stop: to puzzle.—n. a trip in walking or running: a blunder: a failure.—ns. Stum′bler one who stumbles; Stum′bling-block -stone a block or stone over which one would be likely to stumble: a cause of error.—adv. Stum′blingly.—adj. Stum′bly apt to stumble.
Edited by Clifford
Unserious Contents or Definition
If you stumble in a dream while walking or running, you will meet with disfavor, and obstructions will bar your path to success, but you will eventually surmount them, if you do not fall.
Editor: Sonya
Examples
- I likewise broke my right shin against the shell of a snail, which I happened to stumble over, as I was walking alone and thinking on poor England. Jonathan Swift. Gulliver's Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World.
- Well, it is too bad,--I won't again; but I do like to hear the droll little image stumble over those big words! Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- Without philosophy we stumble along. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- It was past in a moment, and I listened again, and heard the footstep stumble in coming on. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Today we may go out and stumble upon a lion which is over-timid--he runs away from us. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- It was a stumble on the threshold at starting--it was a flaw in the evidence which told fatally against us. Wilkie Collins. The Woman in White.
- I put it to one side for fear some one will stumble upon it, intelligently; I respond to a meaning which the thing has. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Phaidor-- she stumbled a little here, and then in a very low voice, Phaidor already is yours. Edgar Rice Burroughs. The Gods of Mars.
- She took a little clod of earth from the broken ground where he had stumbled, and threw it in. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- Mr. Grant Munro pushed impatiently forward, however, and we stumbled after him as best we could. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- A man stumbled against him as he turned away, who mumbled some maudlin apology. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- And, to speak truly, every mule stumbled over the two, and the whole cavalcade was piled up in a heap. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- She never abated the piercing quality of her shrieks, never stumbled in the distinctness or the order of her words. Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities.
- By St Dunstan, said Gurth, as he stumbled up the dark avenue, this is no Jewess, but an angel from heaven! Walter Scott. Ivanhoe.
- And that stumbling-block he never got over. Charles Dickens. Our Mutual Friend.
- A great warrior and yet a stumbling little child. Edgar Rice Burroughs. A Princess of Mars.
- But the one great stumbling-block lay in my want of capital. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes.
- Not stumbling on the means after all, I was fain to go out to the adjacent Lodge and get the watchman there to come with his lantern. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Brute-like, he saw without perceiving; and, stumbling forward, poured out a tumbler of brandy, and drank half of it. Harriet Beecher Stowe. Uncle Tom's Cabin.
- And so he started, stumbling back through the thick and matted underbrush in the direction that he thought the cabin lay. Edgar Rice Burroughs. Tarzan of the Apes.
- But by-and-by we shall meet with plenty of stumbling-blocks, no doubt. Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell. North and South.
- His blushes, his stumbles, his awkwardness, and the number of feet which he crushed as he went back to his place, who shall describe or calculate? William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
Typist: Morton