stumble
Nearly fall down
To stumble is to trip or lose your footing while walking: She stumbled on the uneven pavement.
Extended uses follow naturally—to stumble through a speech is to falter or make mistakes, and to stumble upon something is to discover it by accident: I stumbled across an old photo in the attic.
A stumble is an instance of tripping, or any misstep or blunder.
Planned travel somewhere
- fallDescend under gravity
- tumbleUncontrolled rolling descent
- slipMinor error or misstep
- falterLose momentum or steadiness
topple · lurch · stagger · teeter · wobble · sprawl · pitch · skid
Randomize by mixing
- limpLacking firmness or rigidity
- totterMove unsteadily, nearly falling
- trudgeWalk slowly, heavily
- hobbleWalk with impaired gait
shamble · lurch · stagger · wobble · halting · lurching · weaving · tottering
Speak with involuntary repetitions
- stutterInvoluntary speech repetition
- falterLose momentum or steadiness
- hesitatePause in uncertainty
- fumbleHandle with clumsy fingers
trip over words · tongue-tied · flounder · pause · halting speech · mumble · garble · misread
Foolish, costly mistake
- errorFault in communication
- mishapMinor unfortunate occurrence
- gaffeClumsy social error
- faux pasSocial misstep or indiscretion
oversight · flub · botch · fumble · bungle · goof · slipup · lapse
Find unexpectedly
- happen uponEncounter unexpectedly
- findLocate through effort
- discoverFind something unknown
- encounterUnexpected meeting or confrontation
come across · serendipity · uncover · hit upon · luck into · run across · fall upon · unearth
trip
Planned travel somewhere
falter · topple · lurch · stagger · teeter · wobble · sprawl · pitch · skid · trip up
shuffle
Randomize by mixing
hobble · shamble · lurch · stagger · wobble · halting · lurching · weaving · tottering
stammer
Speak with involuntary repetitions
fumble · trip over words · tongue-tied · flounder · pause · halting speech · mumble · garble · misread · flub
blunder
Foolish, costly mistake
faux pas · oversight · flub · botch · fumble · bungle · goof · slipup · lapse · miscalculation
chance upon
Find unexpectedly
- happen uponEncounter unexpectedly
- findLocate through effort
- discoverFind something unknown
encounter · come across · serendipity · uncover · hit upon · luck into · run across · fall upon · unearth
- errorserror, mistake, blunder, blunders, fault
- accidentsaccident, car accident, bike accident, mishap, traffic accident
- bloopersbloopers, blooper, fail, gag reel, outtakes
- clumsinessclumsiness, clumsy, awkwardness, fumble, slip
- everyday mistakesslip, typos, trip, spelling errors, fall
- failingfail, fails, collapse, flop, bomb
stumbleexcel
Surpass all others
nail · ace · breeze through · sail through · hit one's stride
- stumbled uponFound unexpectedly
- stumble acrossFind unexpectedly, unintentionally
- stumble uponFind unexpectedly
- stumbled acrossFound without searching
- stumble onDiscover by chance
- stumbled onFound unexpectedly
stumbling, stumbled, stumbles, stumble upon, stumbler, stumblers, stumbly, stumble on, stumblings