Meaning

8 senses
  1. To sway unsteadily, reel, or totter.

    (intransitive)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.

    She began to stagger across the room.

    wackeln, wanken, taumeln

    шата́тьсяšatátʹsja

  2. (transitive)To cause to reel or totter.

    The powerful blow of his opponent's fist staggered the boxer.

  3. (intransitive)To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail.

    1708, Joseph Addison, The Present State of the War, and the Necessity of an Augmentation

    The enemy staggers.

  4. Doubt, waver, be shocked.

    (intransitive)To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate.

    zweifeln, wanken

    колеба́тьсяkolebátʹsja

  5. (transitive)To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock.

    He will stagger the committee when he presents his report.

  6. Have multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly spaced, times or places (attested from 1856).

    (transitive)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.

  7. (transitive)To arrange similar objects such that each is ahead or above and to one side of the next.

    We will stagger the starting positions for the race on the oval track.

  8. (transitive)To schedule in intervals or at different times.

    We will stagger the run so the faster runners can go first, then the joggers.

More definitions
  • to arrange in a systematic order
  • astound or overwhelm, as with shock
  • walk as if unable to control one's movements
  • walk with great difficulty

Examples

61 sentences
  1. Tom staggered home from the bar.

    ruТом поковылял домой из бара.

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  2. Tom staggered out of the room.

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  3. The company is attempting to stagger work hours.

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  4. Tom staggered into the room, carrying a bottle of beer.

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  5. Tom staggered out of the bar with a bottle in his hand.

    deTom torkelte mit einer Flasche in der Hand aus der Kneipe.

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Translations

8 languages
Русский
By meaning 2
to walk in an awkward, drunken fashion:
to begin to doubt and waver in purposes:
Deutsch
By meaning 3
to walk in an awkward, drunken fashion:
to move to one side and the other, as if about to fall, in standing or walking:
to begin to doubt and waver in purposes:

Origin

From Middle English stakeren, from Old Norse stakra (“to push, stagger”). Cognate with dia

From Middle English stakeren, from Old Norse stakra (“to push, stagger”). Cognate with dialectal Danish stagre.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

staggers, staggering, staggered, staggered
Base formstagger · to stagger
3rd person singularstaggers
Present participlestaggering
Past simplestaggered
Past participlestaggered

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theystagger
he, she, itstaggers

Past simpleLesson

all personsstaggered

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave staggered
he, she, ithas staggered

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill stagger

Synonyms

7 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

15 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
stagger — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto