staggered

American

[stag-erd] / ˈstæg ərd /

adjective

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.
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

the simple past tense and past participle of stagger.

Other Word Forms

unstaggered

adjective

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.

For Girl Like Me, PinkPantheress wanted the piece to have a canon sequence, Keflezgy says, which is where dancers perform the same movement but in a staggered way.

From BBC • May 29, 2026

There are additional releases of shares at staggered intervals, including after the company reports its second quarterly earnings as a public company.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 20, 2026

They use shaded rest breaks, cloth-cooled water bottles and staggered hours to survive.

From Barron's • May 10, 2026

Startled young women, hands in the air, staggered out of darkened rooms.

From Los Angeles Times • May 2, 2026

She had staggered on along trails for days.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023