stumblingly

Also found in: Thesaurus, Idioms.

Related to stumblingly: stumbling block, stumbling upon

stum·ble

(stŭm′bəl)

v. stum·bled, stum·bling, stum·bles

v.intr.

a. 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: an inexperienced actor stumbling through his lines.

2. To make a mistake or mistakes; blunder: The administration stumbled badly on foreign policy.

3. To come upon accidentally or unexpectedly: "The urge to wider voyages ... caused men to stumble upon New America" (Kenneth Cragg).

v.tr.

To cause to stumble.

1. The act of stumbling.

2. A mistake or blunder.

[Middle English stumblen, probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Old Norse stumra.]

stum′bler n.

stum′bling·ly adv.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

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stumble

References in classic literature ?

And when, at last, I shouldered the coracle and groped my way stumblingly out of the hollow where I had supped, there were but two points visible on the whole anchorage.

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She saw the carnivore step upon the corpse, stumblingly, as the grisly thing swung between its forepaws, and her eyes remained fixed in fascination while the beast passed within a few paces of her.

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"Now, look here, Miss Mason," he began, slowly and stumblingly at first, but accelerating into a rapidity of utterance that was almost incoherent; "I'm a rough sort of a man, I know that, and I know I don't know much of anything.

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At last he came, slowly and stumblingly ascending the stairs, supported by Grimsby and Hattersley, who neither of them walked quite steadily themselves, but were both laughing and joking at him, and making noise enough for all the servants to hear.

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Stumblingly pursuing these two designs--they both meant rum, the only meaning of which he was capable--the degraded creature staggered into Covent Garden Market and there bivouacked, to have an attack of the trembles succeeded by an attack of the horrors, in a doorway.

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If I have a primary care physician taking care of me, I'd much rather they be in charge of my reintegration into the community than have some hospital haltingly and stumblingly reinsert me into the community," Barton says.

In the New Healthcare, Payers and Providers Look to Redefine Quality: Outcomes measurement regimens and new value-based incentives are changing how hospitals, physician groups, and integrated health systems operate and work to satisfy purchasers' and payers' quality demands

In fact, experience shows that very often it is either inaccurately said or stumblingly said...