staggered
Americanadjective
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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.
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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.
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scheduled or ordered in gradual stages; phased.
Microsoft has confirmed that the new update will be a staggered release.
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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
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of staggered
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.
Barron’s has previously warned that the stock could come under pressure as employees and early investors are permitted to sell shares in the coming months under a staggered lockup release plan.
From Barron's • Jun. 22, 2026
SpaceX investors will be able to sell more stock before the end of the year, though the lockup release will be staggered rather than coming at one time.
From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026
SpaceX has instituted staggered lockup releases for its stock—meaning there will be more shares available sooner than usual for newly public companies—and that could drive the stock price lower.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 10, 2026
Humphrys told The Times he "staggered" back to the office after a "lavish" lunch in August 1974 - and then told to break the news that US president Richard Nixon was resigning.
From BBC • Jun. 2, 2026
I staggered up to a tree and collapsed under it in the deafening silence.
From "Tristan Strong Punches a Hole in the Sky" by Kwame Mbalia
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.
