totter

[tot-er]

verb (used without object)

1. to walk or go with faltering, unsteady steps.

   She tottered down the street in high heels, desperately fighting to stay vertical.

2. to sway or rock on the base or ground, as if about to fall.

   The tower seemed to totter in the wind.

   Synonyms: waver

3. to shake or tremble.

   a load that tottered.

   Synonyms: quiver, oscillate

4. to lack security or stability; threaten to collapse.

   The government was tottering.

noun

1. the act of tottering; an unsteady movement or gait.

totter

/ ˈtɒtə /

verb

1. to walk or move in an unsteady manner, as from old age

2. to sway or shake as if about to fall

3. to be failing, unstable, or precarious

noun

1. the act or an instance of tottering

Other Word Forms

• totterer noun
• totteringly adverb
• tottery adjective
• tottering adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of totter¹

First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English toteren “to swing”; origin uncertain

Word History and Origins

Origin of totter¹

C12: perhaps from Old English tealtrian to waver, and Middle Dutch touteren to stagger

Synonym Study

See stagger.

Example Sentences

The two boys, aged 2 and 4, romped through the labyrinth of La Soledad, under lines of drying laundry, past deliverymen pushing stacked handcarts and carpenters hammering away at tottering structures.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Hope as a concept would not have worked for Biden, whose age and mental acuity were in question and who seemed to be tottering toward the election with little wind in his political sails.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

The singer’s sweeping eyeliner, tottering heels and disheveled beehive are still instantly recognizable, 13 years after her death.

Read more on New York Times

The guardsmen blew their horns, and the caravan tottered on into a loose marching formation.

Read more on Literature

He tottered about, shivering, and stuffed every open chink as well as he could with his palsied paws, until no light came through anywhere.

Read more on Literature

Related Words

• careen 
• lurch 
• teeter 
• wobble