stumble - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stam- (“to trip up; to stammer, stutter”), thereby related to German stumm (“mute”), Dutch stom (“dumb”). Doublet of stammer. Also related to verb in Dutch stommelen (“to walk silently”).

stumble (plural stumbles)

  1. A fall, trip or substantial misstep.
    • 1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:
      I went to his aid. As he said, a board in the floor was loose. His stepping on it unawares had caused his stumble.
  2. An error or blunder.
    • 1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
      Possibly Mr. Carrados was considering it from his own way round for he did not appear to notice anything in her stumble.
    • 2022 July 21, Emily Hell, “TikTok’s Pink Sauce chef defends her viral condiment”, in Washington Post‎[1]:
      She owns up to early stumbles, such as bottles being mislabeled.
  3. A clumsy walk.
    • 2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:
      From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.

a fall or trip

an error or blunder

stumble (third-person singular simple present stumbles, present participle stumbling, simple past and past participle stumbled)

  1. (intransitive) To trip or fall; to walk clumsily.
    He stumbled over a rock.
    Last night, you drunkenly stumbled to the front door, waking up the whole house.
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for.
    • 1999, Macy Gray, “I Try”, in On How Life Is:
      I try to say goodbye and I choke (yeah) / Try to walk away and I stumble / Though I try to hide it, it's clear / My world crumbles when you are not near
  2. (intransitive) To make a mistake or have trouble.
    Synonym: blunder
    I always stumble over verbs in Spanish.
  3. (transitive) To cause to stumble or trip.
    • 2017, Jacqueline Druga, Sleepers, page 39:
      Slowly, I turned around and the shock of it stumbled me back a few steps.
  4. (transitive, figurative) To mislead; to confound; to cause to err or to fall.
    • a. 1705, John Locke, “An Examination of P[ère] Malebranche’s Opinion of Seeing All Things in God”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC:
      One thing more stumbles me in the very foundation of this hypothesis.
  5. To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; with on, upon, across, or against.

umble

to trip or fall

to make a mistake or have trouble