teeter

[tee-ter]

verb (used without object)

1. to move unsteadily.

2. to ride a seesaw; teetertotter.

verb (used with object)

1. to tip (something) up and down; move unsteadily.

noun

1. a seesaw motion; wobble.

2. a seesaw; teetertotter.

teeter

/ ˈtiːtə /

verb

1. to move or cause to move unsteadily; wobble

noun

1. another word for seesaw

Word History and Origins

Origin of teeter¹

1835–45; variant of dial. titter, Middle English titeren < Old Norse titra tremble; cognate with German zittern to tremble, quiver

Word History and Origins

Origin of teeter¹

C19: from Middle English titeren, related to Old Norse titra to tremble, Old High German zittarōn to shiver

Example Sentences

After two exhausting years — full of deep postseason runs and season-opening international trips and the daily pressure that came with their heavy offseason expenditures — the club’s tank appeared to be teetering on empty.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

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.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

The rest of Sudan teeters on the edge of disaster.

Read more on BBC

"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."

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Californians watched as the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, another D.C. power player from San Francisco, teetered into frailty, muddled through her final chapter in Washington and then died in office at 90 in 2023.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• dangle 
• falter 
• flutter 
• lurch 
• reel 
• seesaw 
• stagger 
• stumble 
• totter 
• tremble 
• waver