staggered

[stag-erd]

adjective

1. arranged in a series of alternating or continually overlapping intervals of time.

   Board members serve staggered four-year terms, with new directors replacing outgoing ones each year.

2. arranged so as to alternate on either side of a center.

   A circular base approximately 2 meters in diameter is placed atop a couple of staggered layers of brick to allow for aeration from below.

3. scheduled or ordered in gradual stages; phased.

   Microsoft has confirmed that the new update will be a staggered release.

4. rendered helpless with astonishment; shocked.

   Shakespeare’s King Lear questions everything we know, posing to our staggered imaginations the possibility that the cosmos is immoral, even malevolent.

verb

1. the simple past tense and past participle of stagger.

Other Word Forms

• unstaggered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of staggered¹

stagger ( def. ) + -ed ² ( def. )

Example Sentences

Eligibility is staggered across the population to prioritise those most at risk.

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Or, to the millions of punks who staggered under the entrance’s iconic awning: “CBGBs.”

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Members also served staggered terms, so that new people coming on always joined colleagues with previous experience, and often went through more than a year of vetting.

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Its seven members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate, and they serve staggered terms of 14 years, unless “removed for cause by the president.”

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Those pesky rivals from down south staggered away from their weekend stay at Dodger Stadium Sunday with spirits bruised, egos bloodied and Manny Machado flattened.

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Related Words

• astonished 
• awed 
• baffled 
• befuddled 
• dazed 
• mystified www.thesaurus.com
• perplexed 
• puzzled www.thesaurus.com
• rattled www.thesaurus.com
• shocked www.thesaurus.com
• startled 
• stunned 
• surprised www.thesaurus.com