teeter
Americanverb (used without object)
-
teeters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
teetered,
past participle, past
-
teetering
present participle
-
to move unsteadily.
-
to ride a seesaw; teetertotter.
verb (used with object)
-
teeters,
present (3rd person singular)
-
teetered,
past participle, past
-
teetering
present participle
noun
-
a seesaw motion; wobble.
-
a seesaw; teetertotter.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
teetersimple
-
teeterssimple
-
have teeteredperfect
-
has teeteredperfect
-
am teeteringprogressive
-
are teeteringprogressive
-
is teeteringprogressive
-
have been teeteringperfect progressive
-
has been teeteringperfect progressive
Past
-
teeteredsimple
-
had teeteredperfect
-
was teeteringprogressive
-
were teeteringprogressive
-
had been teeteringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of teeter
1835–45; variant of dial. titter, Middle English titeren < Old Norse titra tremble; cognate with German zittern to tremble, quiver
Explanation
To teeter is to waver or sway a bit from lack of balance. When people first learn to ride a bicycle, they inevitably teeter for a while before becoming more skilled and confident. A beginning gymnast will teeter on the balance beam, and anyone who's not accustomed to high-heeled shoes will teeter as they walk in them. Figuratively, you might even teeter, or hesitate, between two hard choices. A "teeter-totter," or seesaw, is a playground toy for two people, a long board fixed on a center support, designed so that when one kid is down, the other is up.
Vocabulary lists containing teeter
The Egypt Game
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Purple Hibiscus
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Charlotte's Web
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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.
See Examples For:
Justice’s control of the Greenbrier began to teeter in 2024, as he ran for Senate.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 6, 2026
Crisis strikes the kitchen when our forgotten, shelved-away ingredients teeter on the fine line between fresh and spoiled.
From Salon ● May 30, 2026
"It has no particular love for the military regime, but when it looked like it might teeter and fall, it equated that with state collapse, and stepped in."
From BBC ● Oct. 22, 2025
If it can’t get payments from tenants quickly enough to cover its debt needs, the company’s business model could teeter.
From Barron's ● Sep. 30, 2025
The referee watched the scale’s weigh beam teeter up, then down, before stopping perfectly balanced.
From "We'll Fly Away" by Bryan Bliss
This opening by Havana, a serious breach in the island's anti-capitalist system, comes as the Cuban economy teeters on the brink of collapse.
From Barron's ● Mar. 21, 2026
Like most of Mr. Puryear’s spare, finely fabricated, handcrafted sculptures, “Aso Oke” teeters between conflicting associations.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 22, 2025
Yet despite his government's nimble response and Seychelles' remarkably swift economic bounce-back, his popularity teeters.
From BBC ● Sep. 25, 2025
An epic treehouse that has stood in Sherman Oaks for 24 years now teeters on the brink of destruction after the city of L.A. declared the whimsical creation a crime.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 28, 2025
She teeters over to the dresser, yanks out all the things I just put away.
From "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett
MP Materials, a volatile small-cap since its 2020 special-purpose acquisition company debut, has swung between boom and bust for rare-earth investors but has never teetered on the edge of failure.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 5, 2026
The company famously teetered on the edge of bankruptcy in 1996, surviving only through a $5 million cash injection from the Japanese videogame developer Sega.
From MarketWatch ● May 23, 2026
“Many of the key teachings from OneTaste teetered between helping and harming the student,” she writes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 18, 2025
The big financial institutions were intertwined by a web of complex financial instruments and vehicles that threatened to bring down the U.S. system as certain players teetered toward collapse.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2025
His subgravity walk teetered across the broken ground, kicking rocks to right and left under his weight in noiseless puffs of gray dust.
From "I, Robot" by Isaac Asimov
If anything, Grande is having a blast - teetering around in perilous heels, blowing kisses to the audience and embracing the physical and vocal demands of her show.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
Now that a majority of Americans own stocks, policymakers may find it hard to sit on the sidelines and not step in if the equity market is teetering, Balchunas said.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 11, 2026
Crowds of onlookers stood near buildings teetering on collapse with police officials doing little to cordon off the area.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 9, 2026
"The project will enable the production of scientifically accurate replicas for museums, classrooms and educational programs, helping to raise awareness and support conservation efforts for a species now teetering on the edge of extinction."
From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026
Cade Hernandez stood atop the steel safety railing, barefoot and shirtless, white as vanilla ice cream, teetering to find a spot in the water where he wouldn’t land on me.
From "100 Sideways Miles" by Andrew Smith
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.
