stumble. The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

stumble

SYLLABICATION:	stum·ble
PRONUNCIATION:	stmbl
VERB:	Inflected forms: stum·bled, stum·bling, stum·bles
INTRANSITIVE VERB:	1a. To miss one's step in walking or running; trip and almost fall. b. To proceed unsteadily or falteringly; flounder. See synonyms at blunder. c. To act or speak falteringly or clumsily. 2. To make a mistake; blunder. 3. To fall into evil ways; err. 4. To come upon accidentally or unexpectedly: “The urge to wider voyages . . . caused men to stumble upon New America” (Kenneth Cragg).
TRANSITIVE VERB:	To cause to stumble.
NOUN:	1. The act of stumbling. 2. A mistake or blunder.
ETYMOLOGY:	Middle English stumblen, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse stumra.
OTHER FORMS:	stumbler —NOUN stumbling·ly —ADVERB


The American Heritage^® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.