staggering
[stag-uh-ring]
- tending to stagger or overwhelm: a staggering amount of money required in the initial investment.
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Origin of staggering
stagger
[stag-er]
- to walk, move, or stand unsteadily.
- to falter or begin to give way, as in an argument or fight.
- to waver or begin to doubt, as in purpose or opinion; hesitate: After staggering momentarily, he recognized that he had to make a decision.
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- to cause to reel, totter, or become unsteady: This load would stagger an elephant.
- to shock; render helpless with amazement or the like; astonish: The vastness of outer space staggers the mind.
- to cause to waver or falter: The news staggered her belief in the triumph of justice.
- to arrange in a zigzag order or manner on either side of a center: The captain staggered the troops along the road.
- to arrange otherwise than at the same time, especially in a series of alternating or continually overlapping intervals: They planned to stagger lunch hours so that the cafeteria would not be rushed.
- Aeronautics. to arrange (the wings of a biplane or the like) so that the entering edge of an upper wing is either in advance of or behind that of a corresponding lower wing.
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- the act of staggering; a reeling or tottering movement or motion.
- a staggered order or arrangement.
- Aeronautics.
- a staggered arrangement of wings.
- the amount of staggering.
- staggers. (used with a singular verb) Veterinary Pathology.
- Also called blind staggers.acute selenium poisoning of livestock characterized by a staggering gait usually followed by respiratory failure and death.
- a condition of unknown cause, occurring in pregnant sheep, cattle, and other animals during or just following extended transport, characterized by a staggering gait and progressive paralysis.
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Origin of stagger
1520–30; earlier stacker to reel, Middle English stakeren < Old Norse stakra to reel, equivalent to stak(a) to stagger + -ra frequentative suffix
Synonyms
See more synonyms for stagger on Thesaurus.com1. Stagger, reel, totter suggest an unsteady manner of walking. To stagger is successively to lose and regain one's equilibrium and the ability to maintain one's direction: to stagger with exhaustion, a heavy load, or intoxication. To reel is to sway dizzily and be in imminent danger of falling: to reel when faint with hunger. To totter is to move in a shaky, uncertain, faltering manner and suggests the immediate likelihood of falling from weakness or feebleness: An old man tottered along with a cane. 3. vacillate. 5. astound, confound, dumfound. 7. alternate.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for staggering
Contemporary Examples
A staggering 80 percent of college women do not report the crime to police, compared to 67 percent of non-students.
As a treatise on the essential vacuity of the white liberal male, Boyhood is a staggering achievement.
The total number of maps reported missing by the affected institutions, however, was a staggering 256.
The Brazilian beauty pulled in a staggering $47 million in 2013 alone, equating to a cool $128,000 a day.
Gisele Bundchen Is Worth $128k a Day; Prince William Gets the Photoshop TreatmentThe Fashion Beast Team
July 15, 2014
The conservative reporter claims to have ‘debunked’ a report showing the staggering number of school shootings in America.
Historical Examples
There has been staggering loss of life and measureless wastage of materials.
He jerked sharply up on the reins, and she broke into a staggering trot.
Way of the LawlessMax Brand
It seemed to her she had been staggering in that street for hours.
The Secret AgentJoseph Conrad
I cried, staggering to my feet and throwing his arms off me.
The Prisoner of ZendaAnthony Hope
And that was where he came up against a staggering disappointment.
The Boy Scouts on Belgian BattlefieldsLieut. Howard Payson
staggering
- astounding or overwhelming; shockinga staggering increase in demand
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stagger
- (usually intr) to walk or cause to walk unsteadily as if about to fall
- (tr) to astound or overwhelm, as with shockI am staggered by his ruthlessness
- (tr) to place or arrange in alternating or overlapping positions or time periods to prevent confusion or congestiona staggered junction; to stagger holidays
- (intr) to falter or hesitatehis courage staggered in the face of the battle
- (tr) to set (the wings of a biplane) so that the leading edge of one extends beyond that of the other
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- the act or an instance of staggering
- a staggered arrangement on a biplane, etc
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See also staggers
Word Origin
C13 dialect stacker, from Old Norse staka to push
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for staggering
adj.
"amazing," 1560s, from present participle of stagger (v.). Related: Staggeringly.
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stagger
v.
1520s, altered from stakeren (c.1300), from Old Norse stakra or Old Danish stagra, both "to push, stagger." Cognate with Dutch staggelen "to stagger," German staggeln "to stammer." Transitive sense of "bewilder, amaze" first recorded 1550s; that of "arrange in a zig-zag pattern" is from 1856. Related: Staggered; staggering.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper