stumble

CEFRB1

/ˈstʌmbəl/

verb · noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    verb

    To trip or lose balance while walking.

  2. 02

    verb

    To make a mistake or speak uncertainly.

Examples

  • I often stumble over something as I am blind as a bat in the dark.

  • She walked carefully so as not to stumble over a rock.

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Deep Dive

verb

Extra meanings

  1. A clumsy walk.

  2. An error or blunder.

noun

Extra meaning

  1. A fall, trip or substantial misstep.

More examples

In context

  • I always stumble over verbs in Spanish.

  • Last night, you drunkenly stumbled to the front door, waking up the whole house.

  • He stumbled over a rock.

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

She was so tired that she began to blank over her own feet on the stairs.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

verb

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”).