Tumble Meaning
/ˈtʌmbl̩/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA fall, especially end over end.
nounA disorderly heap.
Sentence Examples
I saw a girl tumble and ran to her in spite of myself.
The typhoon caused a tree to tumble on my yard.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The child slipped on the wet floor and began to ____ down the stairs.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small child took a slight ____ while he was running in the park, but he got up and continued playing immediately today.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English tumblen (“to fall over and over again, tumble”), frequentative of Middle English tumben (“to fall, leap, dance”), from Old English tumbian, from Proto-Germanic *tūmōną (“to turn, rotate”). Cognate with Middle Dutch tumelen (whence Dutch tuimelen), Middle Low German tumelen, tummelen, German taumeln and Danish tumle.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"When at last we stopped in a tumble of bodies on the grass, laughing, and in Dad's case, out of breath, we were like little kids (I mean 5 or 6! After all I am 12!) at the end of a playground session."
— 2008, David Joutras, A Ghost in the World, page 55:
"Wouldn't it be jolly now, / To take our Aertex panters off / And have a jolly tumble in / The jolly, jolly sun?"
— 1940, John Betjeman, Group Life: Letchworth:
"When you've just had a tumble between the sheets and are feeling rumpled and lazy, she may want to get up so she can make the bed."
— 1979, Martine, Sexual Astrology, page 219:
"He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater blow than he who slides from a molehill."
— 1692–1717, Robert South, Twelve Sermons Preached upon Several Occasions, volume (please specify |volume=I to VI), London:
"“Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.[…]”"
— 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The child slipped on the wet floor and began to ____ down the stairs.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small child took a slight ____ while he was running in the park, but he got up and continued playing immediately today.