tottering

[tot-er-ing]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR tottering ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

walking unsteadily or shakily.

lacking security or stability; threatening to collapse; precarious: a tottering empire.

Origin of tottering

totter + -ing²

Related formstot·ter·ing·ly, adverbun·tot·ter·ing, adjective

totter

[tot-er]

verb (used without object)

to walk or go with faltering steps, as if from extreme weakness.

to sway or rock on the base or ground, as if about to fall: The tower seemed to totter in the wind. The government was tottering.

to shake or tremble: a load that tottered.

noun

the act of tottering; an unsteady movement or gait.

Origin of totter

1150–1200; Middle English toteren to swing < ?

Related formstot·ter·er, noun

Synonyms for totter

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR totter ON THESAURUS.COM

1. See stagger. 2. waver. 3. oscillate, quiver.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for tottering

unsettled, vacillating, dizzy, moving, wavering, suspect, fluctuating, weaving, teetering, loose, exposed, rootless, ambiguous, borderline, capricious, changeable, dubious, erratic, fickle, fitful

Examples from the Web for tottering

Contemporary Examples of tottering

He is vividly, fearfully aware of how much worse things might get than the rotten, tottering system he upholds.
Daenerys Goes to Washington: The Modern Politics of ‘Game of Thrones’
Jedediah Purdy
April 8, 2014
The bankrupt ones are outlined in red, while the tottering ones have orange outlines.
Solyndra 2.0
Megan McArdle
April 2, 2013
Egypt is tottering between rule by Islamists and the military.
Leslie H. Gelb on a World in Crisis—and What Obama Should Do
Leslie H. Gelb
December 14, 2011
Bags had grown to this enormous monstrosity, wildly unfunctional, akin to tottering around on seven-inch heels.
Return of the Normal-Size Bag
Misty White Sidell
October 9, 2011
And in all the rest of the world, half a dozen old men, if so many, tottering toward their graves.
Rahm's Historic Stupidity
John Batchelor
September 23, 2009

Historical Examples of tottering

Our Union is tottering to its foundation, and slavery is the cause.
The Works of Whittier, Volume VII (of VII)
John Greenleaf Whittier
I went downstairs trembling, tottering, and my teeth chattering.
My Double Life
Sarah Bernhardt
It had taken this news from the harbor to bring him tottering, crashing down.
The Harbor
Ernest Poole
He was not about to throw himself headlong from the summit of the tottering wall.
Barnaby Rudge
Charles Dickens
The commercial and moral fabric of European civilization is tottering.
The Paper Moneys of Europe
Francis W. Hirst

British Dictionary definitions for tottering

totter

verb (intr)

to walk or move in an unsteady manner, as from old age

to sway or shake as if about to fall

to be failing, unstable, or precarious

noun

the act or an instance of tottering

Derived Formstotterer, nountottering, adjectivetotteringly, adverbtottery, adjective

Word Origin for totter

C12: perhaps from Old English tealtrian to waver, and Middle Dutch touteren to stagger

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 tottering

totter

c.1200, "swing to and fro," perhaps from a Scandinavian source (cf. dialectal Norwegian totra "to quiver, shake"). Meaning "stand or walk with shaky, unsteady steps" is from c.1600. Related: Tottered; tottering.