as in senile
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Dissimilar Words
as in lurching
to move forward while swaying from side to side
was doddering down the walk outside the nursing home
Synonyms & Similar Words
Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of doddering
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
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
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Unfortunately for Bill, his son Andrew (Monk actor Jason Gray-Stanford) is afraid his father is going senile and is in danger of being catfished.—
Sabienna Bowman,
PEOPLE,
30 Jan. 2026
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Billy Chapman is again introduced as a child (Logan Sawyer) visiting his senile grandpa in a rest home.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
11 Dec. 2025
Verb
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Sure enough, a big rock upended from beneath my toe and sent me lurching headlong to the water.—
Bryan Hendricks,
Arkansas Online,
15 Feb. 2026
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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
Adjective
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Instead, he is now set to go free after being granted elderly parole — much to the anger and horror of some of his victims, as well as the prosecutor who oversaw his case.—
Clara Harter,
Los Angeles Times,
22 Feb. 2026
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For our littlest kids, this might mean patting the back of a worried friend, waving to an elderly neighbor, or breaking a cookie in half to share with a younger brother.—
Catherine Newman,
Parents,
22 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Cheng likes to build muni bond ladders, which means staggering the maturity dates of multiple bonds.—
Michelle Fox,
CNBC,
29 Oct. 2025
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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
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While the Florida project has always had a malleable aesthetic, the constants have been a love of gloomy atmospherics and a penchant for crafting decrepit worlds out of their swampy death-doom.—
Sam Goldner,
Pitchfork,
17 Feb. 2026
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The character is a decrepit monster, hundreds of years old, feeding off the blood of young women — and Besson presents him as a romantic martyr for love.—
Katie Walsh,
Los Angeles Times,
6 Feb. 2026
Verb
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Models are tottering on the cobblestoned Bond Street with their heels getting stuck in the rivets.—
Nate Freeman,
Vanity Fair,
13 Feb. 2026
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Now, even that tiny effort is tottering.—
Mark Z. Barabak,
Mercury News,
27 Jan. 2026
Adjective
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The state also boasts the second-best geriatric hospitals in the country, WalletHub says, and has one of the lowest rates of social isolation for seniors.—
Chris Mueller,
Sioux Falls Argus Leader,
30 Jan. 2026
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Harris reports that only about 39% of available geriatric fellowship positions were filled in 2025.—
Howard Gleckman,
Forbes.com,
26 Jan. 2026
Verb
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Metcalf and Pullman are both wonderful in their shuffling ordinariness, reenacting long-obsolete parental dynamics with a kind of rueful, hopeful denial.—
Guy Lodge,
Variety,
13 Feb. 2026
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Bridgerton treats it as though every woman got multiples of their yearbook photo to hand around as headshots, and Benedict’s taking what would have been treasured personal heirlooms and just shuffling through them and tossing out anyone with the wrong hair color.—
Kathryn VanArendonk,
Vulture,
11 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Doddering.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/doddering. Accessed 25 Feb. 2026.
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