stagger means an unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, stagger ranks #1,110 of 14,361 for Most Ingenious Words, #2,200 of 14,340 for Most Vivid Words, #2,319 of 14,444 for Most Exacting Words, #2,574 of 14,448 for Funniest Words.
stagger is pronounced /ˈstæɡə/.
Why “stagger” is a great word
To move or stand unsteadily, swaying as if on the verge of collapse. From Middle English *stakeren*, from Old Norse *stakra* ("to push, stagger"). Unlike "totter," which implies the fragility of age or a great height, or "reel," which suggests a violent, spinning disorientation, to stagger is to be burdened—by weight, by drink, by news. It is the heavy-footed weave of a man carrying a coffin, the defeated lurch from a gut-punch, the slow, side-to-side navigation of a dark hallway after a fever breaks—the body betraying what the mind has not yet accepted, each step a small negotiation between standing and surrender.
Etymology
From Middle English stakeren, from Old Norse stakra (“to push, stagger”). Cognate with dialectal Danish stagre.
noun
- An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion.
- A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling.e.g.“parasitic staggers”
- Bewilderment; perplexity.
- The spacing out of various actions over time.
- 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.
- The horizontal positioning of a biplane, triplane, or multiplane's wings in relation to one another.
- One who attends a stag night.e.g.“Tallinn no longer takes pride in the title of 'favourite destination of British staggers'.”
verb
- To sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.; In standing or walking, to sway from one side to the other as if about to fall; to stand or walk unsteadily; to reel or totter.e.g.“She began to stagger across the room.”
- To sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.; To cause to reel or totter.e.g.“The powerful blow of his opponent's fist staggered the boxer.”
- To sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.; To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail.e.g.“1708, Joseph Addison, The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation”
- Doubt, waver, be shocked.; To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate.e.g.“He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.”
- Doubt, waver, be shocked.; To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock.e.g.“He will stagger the committee when he presents his report.”
- Have multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly spaced, times or places (attested from 1856).; To arrange (a series of parts) on each side of a median line alternately, as the spokes of a wheel or the rivets of a boiler seam.
- Have multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly spaced, times or places (attested from 1856).; To arrange similar objects such that each is ahead or above and to one side of the next.e.g.“We will stagger the starting positions for the race on the oval track.”
- Have multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly spaced, times or places (attested from 1856).; To schedule in intervals or at different times.e.g.“We will stagger the run so the faster runners can go first, then the joggers.”
Words closest in meaning
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