stagger
pronunciation
How to pronounce stagger in British English:
UK [ˈstæɡə(r)]
How to pronounce stagger in American English:
US [ˈstæɡər]
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- Noun:
- an unsteady uneven gait
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- Verb:
- walk as if unable to control one's movements
- walk with great difficulty
- to arrange in a systematic order
- astound or overwhelm, as with shock
Word Origin
- stagger (v.)
- mid-15c., "walk unsteadily, reel" (intransitive), altered from stakeren (early 14c.), from a Scandinavian source (compare Old Danish stagra, Old Norse stakra "to push, shove, cause to reel," also "to stumble, stagger," perhaps literally "hit with a stick," from Proto-Germanic *stakon- "a stake," from PIE *steg- (1) "pole, stick." Cognate with Dutch staggelen "to stagger," German staggeln "to stammer." Transitive sense of "bewilder, amaze" first recorded 1550s; that of "arrange in a zig-zag pattern" is from 1856. Related: Staggered; staggering.
Example
- 1. You will be barely able to stagger when the evening is over .
- 2. The flames burnt through the rope and he was able to stagger a short distance before collapsing and dying .
- 3. If work schedules were more flexible , different companies could stagger their office hours to reduce the rush .
- 4. Public transport in the uk will keep running , but users may be advised to stagger their journeys and avoid unnecessary trips .
- 5. Somewhere there 's a wall switch for it , which you toggle when evening falls , or when you stagger to the bathroom half asleep in the middle of the night .