stagger

Meaning

Noun

1. An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion.
2. A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling.
3. Bewilderment; perplexity.
4. The spacing out of various actions over time.
5. The difference in circumference between the left and right tires on a racing vehicle. It is used on oval tracks to make the car turn better in the corners.
6. The horizontal positioning of a biplane, triplane, or multiplane's wings in relation to one another.

Verb

1. (intransitive) To sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.
2. (transitive) To sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.
3. (intransitive) To sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.
4. (intransitive) Doubt, waver, be shocked.
5. (transitive) Doubt, waver, be shocked.
6. (transitive) Have multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly spaced, times or places (attested from 1856).
7. (transitive) Have multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly spaced, times or places (attested from 1856).
8. (transitive) Have multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly spaced, times or places (attested from 1856).

Synonyms

reel

totter

sway

lurch

wobble

stumble

shake

🫨

waver

stun

falter

teeter

dumbfound

walk unsteadily

wabble

tremble

amaze

be unsteady

careen

rock

🪨

flounder

unsteady

vacillate

swag

startle

astonish

puzzle

keel

hesitate

stupefy

trip

take aback

alarm

astound

dodder

distribute

dismay

disconcert

nonplus

bewilder

whirl

hobble

limp

appal

be lopsided

surprise

swing

tilt

stamp

staggering

roll

Translations

schwanken

tituber

chanceler

vacilar

tambalear

barcollare

taumeln

wankelen

torkeln

wanken

cambalear

tambaleo

vacillare

titubear

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈstæɡə/

Etymology

Inherited from Middle English: stageren

Cognate with Danish: stagre

In summary

From Middle English stakeren, from Old Norse stakra (“to push, stagger”). Cognate with dialectal Danish stagre.