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Synonyms

staggered

American  
[stag-erd] / ˈstæg ərd /

adjective

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. scheduled or ordered in gradual stages; phased.

    Microsoft has confirmed that the new update will be a staggered release.

  4. 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

  1. the simple past tense and past participle of stagger.

Other Word Forms

Etymology

Origin of staggered

stagger ( def. ) + -ed 2 ( def. )

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.

Staggered in the final minute of the contest by a huge right, Wardley somehow managed to stay on his feet, still throwing hands up until the last bell.

From BBC • Mar. 31, 2024

Staggered municipal and council elections had been scheduled for May but funding has not yet been secured by the state, according to caretaker Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi.

From Reuters • Apr. 18, 2023

Staggered by these and other blows, the world’s economy appears to be spiraling into yet another recession.

From Scientific American • Dec. 19, 2022

Life in some European cities may soon look like this: Staggered electricity outages to save energy.

From New York Times • Dec. 5, 2022

Staggered, he stepped backward, his head turning this way and that as he searched for his foe.

From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin

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.