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Stumble

//ˈstʌmbəl// noun, verb

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A fall, trip or substantial misstep.

    "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. 2
    an unintentional but embarrassing blunder wordnet
  3. 3
    An error or blunder.

    "She owns up to early stumbles, such as bottles being mislabeled."

  4. 4
    an unsteady uneven gait wordnet
  5. 5
    A clumsy walk.

    "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."

Verb
  1. 1
    To trip or fall; to walk clumsily. intransitive

    "He stumbled over a rock."

  2. 2
    make an error wordnet
  3. 3
    To make a mistake or have trouble. intransitive

    "I always stumble over verbs in Spanish."

  4. 4
    miss a step and fall or nearly fall wordnet
  5. 5
    To cause to stumble or trip. transitive

    "Slowly, I turned around and the shock of it stumbled me back a few steps."

Show 4 more definitions
  1. 6
    walk unsteadily, tripping repeatedly wordnet
  2. 7
    To mislead; to confound; to cause to err or to fall. figuratively, transitive

    "False and dazzling fires to stumble men."

  3. 8
    encounter by chance wordnet
  4. 9
    To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; with on, upon, or against.

    "It ſeems more probable that Ovid vvas either the Confident of ſome other paſſion, or that he had ſtumbled by ſome inadvertency, upon the privacies of Livia, and ſeen her in a Bath: […]"

Etymology

Etymology 1

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”).

Etymology 2

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”).

See also for "stumble"

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