doddering 1 of 2

Definition of dodderingnext

doddering

2 of 2

verb

present participle of dodder

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of doddering
Adjective
The trio find work at the Planet Express Delivery Company, founded by Fry’s doddering descendant, Professor Hubert Farnsworth. Michael Schneider, Variety, 21 July 2025 The secondary villain is a doddering, power-hungry elderly man with an unruly mop of hair and a flock of advisors who constantly shower him with unearned praise. Ross Raihala, Twin Cities, 9 July 2025 Does the diagnosis explain Biden’s occasionally doddering affect? Adam B. Kushner, New York Times, 21 May 2025 As many Democrats in Congress have struggled to respond to the fire hose of disruption—at times seeming downright doddering in response to the White House’s potential upending of the constitutional order—the 53-year-old Schatz has helped his party find their footing. Philip Elliott, TIME, 10 Feb. 2025 See All Example Sentences for doddering
Recent Examples of Synonyms for doddering
Adjective
  • Billy Chapman is again introduced as a child (Logan Sawyer) visiting his senile grandpa in a rest home.
    Dennis Harvey, Variety, 11 Dec. 2025
  • The kids can’t spell and the world leaders are senile.
    Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 21 Oct. 2025
Verb
  • Natanya complicates her old-school character sketch with cerebral shifts in perspective, affecting each of the voices that accompany a young woman’s drive for success and independence (demanding friends and parents, sexist expectations, her own willpower) in a lurching cascade of melodies.
    H.D. Angel, Pitchfork, 13 Jan. 2026
  • The midterm blue wave backlash is gathering, with the generic ballot lurching in the Democrats' favor and Trump’s popularity cratering.
    Matt Robison, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2025
Adjective
  • He was found guilty in 2025 of treating an elderly women suffering from liver disease without a medical license.
    Alexandra Schonfeld, PEOPLE, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Rantz cited a recent attack on an elderly woman who was struck in the face with a board containing a nail, leaving her blind.
    Stepheny Price, FOXNews.com, 12 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Cheng likes to build muni bond ladders, which means staggering the maturity dates of multiple bonds.
    Michelle Fox, CNBC, 29 Oct. 2025
  • To get through the season and the playoffs, staggering the minutes of Green and Horford is logical, even with Quintin Post picking up some center minutes.
    Jannelle Moore, Mercury News, 21 Oct. 2025
Adjective
  • In its center, from which the well-to-do have long decamped, decrepit high-rises have been most successfully revitalized by the Homeless Movement of the Center (MSTC), a collective of squatters affiliated with the larger Front Line of the Struggle for Housing (FLM).
    Michaëla de Lacaze Mohrmann, Artforum, 1 Jan. 2026
  • While Bower is easy on the eyes as Vecna’s human incarnate, Henry Creel, Vecna in full form is a gruesome monster with vascular gray flesh, a decrepit face and piercing eyes — a fitting prince of the Upside Down.
    Andrew McGowan, Variety, 29 Nov. 2025
Adjective
  • Iwuagwu worked as a professor in the University of Toledo College of Medicine and Life Sciences, Department of Medicine, and as a UToledo Health geriatric medicine physician.
    Charna Flam, PEOPLE, 27 Dec. 2025
  • Reality is far more complicated, Ipsit Vahia, the chief of geriatric psychiatry at Mass General Brigham’s McLean Hospital and the director of its Technology and Aging Laboratory, told me.
    Charlie Warzel, The Atlantic, 23 Dec. 2025
Verb
  • Go on a street food tour Street food tours are great things to do in Sicily and a fabulous alternative to hours of shuffling through museums.
    Rosalyn Wikeley, Condé Nast Traveler, 10 Jan. 2026
  • It's designed to offer a satisfying and calming shuffling motion, guided by a strong magnet and a seamless sliding track on the inside.
    Abhimanyu Ghoshal, New Atlas, 9 Jan. 2026
Verb
  • Both authors write as recovering fawners, weaving their own stories through case studies and explication of therapeutic motifs.
    Katy Waldman, New Yorker, 12 Jan. 2026
  • Ross attempted to subdue the man using his Taser, but Muñoz-Guatemala was still able to hit the gas and drag Ross at least 100 yards through the street, weaving back and forth to try to shake the officer loose.
    Nick Miroff, The Atlantic, 10 Jan. 2026

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Cite this Entry

“Doddering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/doddering. Accessed 15 Jan. 2026.

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