tottering

American  

[tot-er-ing] / ˈtɒt ər ɪŋ /

adjective

1. walking unsteadily or shakily.

2. lacking security or stability; threatening to collapse; precarious.

   a tottering empire.

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Other Word Forms

• totteringly adverb
• untottering adjective

Etymology

Origin of tottering

totter + -ing ²

Example Sentences

He regularly held Saturday morning sessions with experts on the tottering Soviet empire and led the George H.W.

From The Wall Street Journal

The two boys, aged 2 and 4, romped through the labyrinth of La Soledad, under lines of drying laundry, past deliverymen pushing stacked handcarts and carpenters hammering away at tottering structures.

From Los Angeles Times

Hope as a concept would not have worked for Biden, whose age and mental acuity were in question and who seemed to be tottering toward the election with little wind in his political sails.

From Los Angeles Times

The singer’s sweeping eyeliner, tottering heels and disheveled beehive are still instantly recognizable, 13 years after her death.

From New York Times

The beauty, the lusciousness, the humor and playfulness, the nuance are all here ... the movement of the heron in flight, of fish in the water, the tottering old aunties.

From Los Angeles Times