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.
-
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.
Laddering simply means buying CDs with staggered maturity dates — for example, one that matures in six months, another in a year, and another later still.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 18, 2026
One source claimed that the invitees’ arrival times were staggered such that there were A, B, C, and D lists.
From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026
Those agencies are often structured as multimember commissions with staggered, time-limited terms.
From Slate ● Jul. 6, 2026
The staggered roll-out has been introduced under the advice of the UK National Screening Committee, external, which wants to evaluate the effectiveness of screening, and the cost of treatment to the NHS.
From BBC ● Jun. 24, 2026
Raizel staggered from the floor, pressing a hand to the bump on her head.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
