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stumble

/ˈstʌmbəl/noun, verb2 syllables

Stumble means: an unintentional but embarrassing blunder.

Synonyms for stumble20

noun, as in an unintentional but embarrassing blunder

trip, trip-up, misstep

noun, as in an unsteady uneven gait

lurch, stagger

verb, as in walk unsteadily, tripping repeatedly

falter, bumble

verb, as in make an error

slip up, trip up

verb, as in miss a step and fall or nearly fall

trip

verb, as in encounter by chance

hit

also used for stumble

blooper, blunder, boo-boo, defect, error, fault, faux pas, fluff, gaffe, lapse

Includes material from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.

What does stumble mean?6

noun

1

an unintentional but embarrassing blunder“he recited the whole poem without a single trip”

2

an unsteady uneven gait

verb

1

walk unsteadily, tripping repeatedly“The drunk man stumbled about”

2

make an error“She slipped up and revealed the name”

3

miss a step and fall or nearly fall“She stumbled over the tree root”

4

encounter by chance“I stumbled across a long-lost cousin last night in a restaurant”

Definitions from the Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

What rhymes with stumble?6

Show 40 near rhymes
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Stumble in a sentence

  • The man stumbles, as if he is about to fall.unknown
  • In early times, inventions were often stumbled upon by accident.CM
  • The old man stumbled, fell, and hit his head on the pavement.AlanF_US
  • After walking for miles in the woods, the fugitive stumbled upon a farmhouse.Amastan
  • Sami stumbled to the road, flagging down a pickup.OsoHombre
  • She walked carefully so as not to stumble over a rock.Miktsoanit
  • It's easy to stumble when walking on gravel.Miktsoanit
  • The horse has four legs and still stumbles sometimes.freddy1

Sentences from Tatoeba, CC BY 2.0 FR, credited to their authors.

Forms of stumble

as a noun

plural
stumbles

as a verb

past tense
stumbled
present participle
stumbling
third-person singular
stumbles
past participle
stumbled