stumble
pronunciation
How to pronounce stumble in British English:
UK [ˈstʌmbl]
How to pronounce stumble in American English:
US [ˈstʌmbl]
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- Noun:
- an unsteady uneven gait
- an unintentional but embarrassing blunder
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- Verb:
- walk unsteadily
- miss a step and fall or nearly fall
- encounter by chance
- make an error
Word Origin
- stumble
- stumble: [14] Stumble was probably borrowed from an unrecorded Old Norse *stumla. This would have come, along with its first cousin stumra ‘trip’, from a prehistoric Germanic base *stum-, *stam- ‘check, impede’, which also produced English stammer and stem ‘halt, check’.=> stammer, stem
- stumble (v.)
- c. 1300, "to trip or miss one's footing" (physically or morally), probably from a Scandinavian source (compare dialectal Norwegian stumla, Swedish stambla "to stumble"), probably from a variant of the Proto-Germanic base *stam-, source of Old English stamerian "to stammer," German stumm, Dutch stom "dumb, silent." Possibly influenced in form by stumpen "to stumble," but the -b- may be purely euphonious. Meaning "to come (upon) by chance" is attested from 1550s. Related: Stumbled; stumbling. Stumbling-block first recorded 1526 (Tindale), used in Rom. xiv:13, where usually it translates Greek skandalon.
- stumble (n.)
- 1540s, "act of stumbling," from stumble (v.). Meaning "a failure, false step" is from 1640s.
Example
- 1. Which economy will be the first to stumble on its problems ?
- 2. It is more of a haphazard stumble , and then a dawning sense of opportunity that is seized upon by those destined to become entrepreneurs .
- 3. Other omega 3 containing oils that you may stumble upon
- 4. Consequently , you doom yourself to stumble around in the dark , utterly confused .
- 5. Yet , if we do occasionally stumble and fall , jesus is our advocate with the father , who will intercede for us as the one who took our punishment .