tottering

American  

[tot-er-ing] / ˈtɒt ər ɪŋ /

adjective

1. walking unsteadily or shakily.

2. lacking security or stability; threatening to collapse; precarious.

   a tottering empire.

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Other Word Forms

• totteringly adverb
• untottering adjective

Etymology

Origin of tottering

totter + -ing ²

Example Sentences

Dotting the shoreline is a bleak expanse of detritus: timeworn pumps, tottering derricks, wayward cranes and aging pipelines.

From Los Angeles Times

He sees the milk carton tottering, and tries to reach it, but his fingers graze the side.

From Literature

There, tottering on the edge of the railing that circled the parlor’s private balcony, was Edward Ashton.

From Literature

He regularly held Saturday morning sessions with experts on the tottering Soviet empire and led the George H.W.

From The Wall Street Journal

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.

From Los Angeles Times