stumble meaning: definition, etymology and quotations

stumble

noun

/ˈstʌmbəl/ · Northern-England /ˈstʊmbəl/

Etymology 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”).

A fall, trip or substantial misstep.

I went to his aid. As he said, a board in the floor was loose. His stepping on it unawares had caused his stumble.1897, Richard Marsh, The Beetle:

An error or blunder.

Possibly Mr. Carrados was considering it from his own way round for he did not appear to notice anything in her stumble.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London:
She owns up to early stumbles, such as bottles being mislabeled.2022 July 21, Emily Hell, “TikTok’s Pink Sauce chef defends her viral condiment”, in Washington Post:

A clumsy walk.

From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52:

Synonyms: blooper, blunder, boo-boo, defect, error, fault, faux pas, fluff, gaffe, lapse, mistake, slip, thinko

stumble

verb

To trip or fall; to walk clumsily.

He stumbled over a rock.
Last night, you drunkenly stumbled to the front door, waking up the whole house.

3 more examples

He stumbled up the dark avenue.1819 December 20 (indicated as 1820), Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […], →OCLC:
I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
I try to say goodbye and I choke (yeah) / Try to walk away and I stumble / Though I try to hide it, it's clear / My world crumbles when you are not near1999, Macy Gray, “I Try”, in On How Life Is:

To make a mistake or have trouble.

I always stumble over verbs in Spanish.
[…] they are out of the way through strong drinke, they erre in vision, they stumble in iudgement.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Isaiah 28:7:

To cause to stumble or trip.

Slowly, I turned around and the shock of it stumbled me back a few steps.2017, Jacqueline Druga, Sleepers, page 39:

Figuratively To mislead; to confound; to cause to err or to fall.

False and dazzling fires to stumble men.1644, John Milton, Areopagitica; a Speech of Mr. John Milton for the Liberty of Unlicenc’d Printing, to the Parlament of England, London: [s.n.], →OCLC:
One thing more stumbles me in the very foundation of this hypothesis.a. 1705, John Locke, “An Examination of P[ère] Malebranche’s Opinion of Seeing All Things in God”, in Posthumous Works of Mr. John Locke: […], London: […] A[wnsham] and J[ohn] Churchill, […], published 1706, →OCLC:

To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; with on, upon, across, or against.

It ſeems more probable that Ovid vvas either the Confident of ſome other paſſion, or that he had ſtumbled by ſome inadvertency, upon the privacies of Livia, and ſeen her in a Bath: […]1680, John Dryden, “The Preface to Ovid’s Epistles”, in Ovid, Ovid’s Epistles, […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
Forth as she waddled in the brake, / A grey goose stumbled on a snake.1754, Christopher Smart, Snake:

Derived terms: stumble across, stumble against, stumblebum, stumble-drunk, stumble into, stumble on, stumble onto, stumbler, stumblesome, stumble upon, stumbly
Related terms: stumbling block

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