stampeding
Rushing in panic
Stampeding is a present participle of stampede, describing the act of rushing headlong in a panicked mass.
Cattle stampede when spooked; crowds stampede toward exits in emergencies.
The word captures both the collective nature and the loss of individual control: The fans were stampeding toward the stage.
Figuratively, to be stampeded into something is to be pressured into hasty action.
Large North American bovine
- wildebeestLarge African grazing antelope
- cattleDomesticated bovines kept commercially
- elephantsTusked, trunk-bearing mammals
- gazellesSmall, swift African bovids
antelope · caribou · horses · mustangs · bison · hooves · thundering · trampling
buffalo
Large North American bovine
- wildebeestLarge African grazing antelope
- cattleDomesticated bovines kept commercially
- elephantsTusked, trunk-bearing mammals
gazelles · antelope · caribou · horses · mustangs · bison · hooves · thundering · trampling · galloping
fear
Emotional response to threat
hysteria · dread · fleeing · trampling · crush · scramble · screaming · mayhem · disorder · frenzy
charge
Cost or accusation
torrent · wave · deluge · influx · thrust · cascade · tide · stream · propulsion · advance
- rushingrushing, hurrying, dashing, sprinting, racing
- huntingdeer hunting, hunting rifle, hunters, tracking, hunting license
- instinctsinstinct, survival instinct, survival instincts, maternal instinct, gut instinct
- overwhelming verbsflooding, drowning, crushing, smothering, swamping
- sheep behaviorflocking, grazing, bleating, herding, following
- crowdingcrowding, gathering, clustering, bunching, congregating
stampedingstopping
Ceasing to continue
halting · standing still · pausing · freezing · ceasing
stampedingambling
Walking without urgency
strolling · marching · filing · sauntering · plodding
stampedingorderly retreat
Planned military pullback
filing out · queuing · lining up · regrouping
stampede, stamps, stamping, stamp out, stampedes, stampeded, unstamped, stamper, stamp duty