stumble
Americanverb (used without object)
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to strike the foot against something, as in walking or running, so as to stagger or fall; trip.
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to walk or go unsteadily.
to stumble down a dark passage.
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to make a slip, mistake, or blunder, especially a sinful one.
to stumble over a question; to stumble and fall from grace.
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to proceed in a hesitating or blundering manner, as in action or speech (often followed byalong ).
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to discover or meet with accidentally or unexpectedly (usually followed by on, upon, oracross ).
They stumbled on a little village.
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to falter or hesitate, as at an obstacle to progress or belief.
verb (used with object)
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to cause to stumble; trip.
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to give pause to; puzzle or perplex.
noun
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the act of stumbling.
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a moral lapse or error.
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a slip or blunder.
verb
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to trip or fall while walking or running
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to walk in an awkward, unsteady, or unsure way
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to make mistakes or hesitate in speech or actions
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to come (across) by accident
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to commit a grave mistake or sin
noun
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a false step, trip, or blunder
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the act of stumbling
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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stumblesimple
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stumblessimple
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have stumbledperfect
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has stumbledperfect
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am stumblingprogressive
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are stumblingprogressive
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is stumblingprogressive
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have been stumblingperfect progressive
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has been stumblingperfect progressive
Past
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stumbledsimple
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had stumbledperfect
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was stumblingprogressive
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were stumblingprogressive
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had been stumblingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of stumble
1275–1325; Middle English stumblen; cognate with Norwegian stumla to grope and stumble in the dark; akin to stammer
Explanation
To stumble means to nearly fall by tripping or missing a step. When you walk over uneven cobblestones, it’s easy to stumble, so please be careful. While stumble often means to nearly fall, it can also mean to make a misstep of a different kind. If you stumble over your words, you speak in a stuttering confused manner. Politicians make so many public decisions that they're bound to stumble — make a mistake — occasionally. When you stumble on rare mushrooms, i.e. come across them unexpectedly, be sure have the species verified before you eat them.
Vocabulary lists containing stumble
"Romeo and Juliet" by William Shakespeare, Act II
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Unit 3: Compelling Evidence
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Steve Jobs's Commencement Address (2005)
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Concern that data-center construction could stumble isn’t just weighing on developers developing new technologies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
They stumble over time into an unlikely friendship.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
You can almost stumble on to a combination that works well and this time maybe one has helped Brazil.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
But on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, users were likelier to stumble across news while doing something else.
From Barron's ● Jun. 15, 2026
Matthias pinned the medal to his habit, telling himself that he might stumble into Captain Snow’s territory at any moment.
From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques
And if management stumbles out of the gate, shares trade at a discount to the S&P 500, which offers investors a floor.
From Barron's ● Jun. 11, 2026
He also pointed to the dispersion happening in these markets, when a select few stocks do really well while the rest of the market stumbles.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 1, 2026
Written by Mr. Carney and Peter McDonald, who also contributes a funny supporting turn as one of Rick’s band mates, it stumbles into a bog of bitterness, quarreling and unseemly behavior.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026
The recovery was marked by additional stumbles, reversing course on traffic checkpoints, tax relief for wildfire victims and the need for a single recovery chief.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 27, 2026
Mouse Girl stumbles back and steps on Aunty Cloud's feet.
From "Born Behind Bars" by Padma Venkatraman
I love a Snickers bar, so when I stumbled upon TikTok recipes for a five-ingredient date “Snickers,” I knew I had to try it.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
But EchoStar’s stock has stumbled recently, dropping 20% since June 12, when SpaceX went public.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 17, 2026
The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite stumbled on Wednesday, falling roughly 0.2%.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Historian Mike Clubb and his three young sons stumbled upon the tunnels when blackberry picking in the early 1980s.
From BBC ● Jul. 11, 2026
Gasping for breath, he stumbled up the front steps of his house, fumbled with the key, threw open the door, and shot into the living room.
From "Jeremy Thatcher, Dragon Hatcher" by Bruce Coville
After stumbling in the group-play final, which Turkey won with a goal deep in stoppage time, the U.S. will have no room for error in its first elimination game.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 30, 2026
A potential stumbling block to the proposals was that Highland Council believed the barracks would need to be licensed as a house of multiple occupancy.
From BBC ● Jun. 25, 2026
What are the main stumbling blocks that we could see in terms of really preventing that agreement from coming to fruition?
From Barron's ● Jun. 25, 2026
Super Micro encountered a stumbling block in March, when co-founder Wally Liaw and other employees were charged with diverting $2.5 billion worth of Nvidia chips to China.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 22, 2026
City officials threw up one stumbling block after another to delay implementation of the Court’s intent.
From "The Best of Enemies" by Osha Gray Davidson
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
