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.
-
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.
Officials from Alberta said the staggered increases would save its energy sector up to C$250 billion in compliance costs, and provide certainty to investors about the regulatory landscape.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 15, 2026
Startled young women, hands in the air, staggered out of darkened rooms.
From Los Angeles Times • May 2, 2026
Tessa Gregory, a human rights lawyer with Leigh Day, told the BBC she was "staggered" no UK police investigation had ever been launched, after we showed her examples of our findings.
From BBC • Apr. 24, 2026
Over the first six months of this staggered fiscal year, the deficit fell by 11 percent, or $139 billion, thanks to the increase in revenue that occurred between October and December due to customs duties.
From Barron's • Apr. 10, 2026
He staggered into the arms of Dr. Samuel A. Mudd.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
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.
