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stumble across/on/onto/upon

idiom

Definition of stumble across/on/onto/upon

: to find or learn about (something) unexpectedly
  • I stumbled across/on/upon this book by chance.
  • We stumbled onto/across the ruins of an old fort.
  • They stumbled on/upon a bizarre plot.
  • He stumbled onto the truth.

Word by Word Definitions

stumble play

  1. : to fall into sin or waywardness

  2. : to make an error : blunder

  3. : to come to an obstacle to belief

  1. : an act or instance of stumbling

See the full definition of stumble
across play

  1. : from one side to the opposite side of : over, through

  2. : on the opposite side of

  3. : so as to intersect or pass through at an angle

  1. : in a position reaching from one side to the other : crosswise

  2. : to or on the opposite side

  3. : so as to be understandable, acceptable, or successful

  1. : being in a crossed position

See the full definition of across
onto play

  1. : to a position on

  2. : in or into a state of awareness about

  3. used as a function word to indicate a set each element of which is the image of at least one element of another set

  1. : mapping elements in such a way that every element in one set is the image of at least one element in another set

See the full definition of onto
upon play

  1. : on

  1. : on the surface : on it

  2. : thereafter, thereon

See the full definition of upon

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