as in shuffling
to move heavily or clumsily
disconsolate and exhausted after losing the match, the wrestler shambled toward the locker room
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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
as in lumbering
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of shambling
Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 19 Sep. 2025
At the same time, no one in metal was funnier, more in touch with his own bathos, more post–Spinal Tap, in a sense, than Ozzy, especially in his shambling-paterfamilias incarnation on MTV’s reality show The Osbournes.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 12 Sep. 2025
Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 6 Sep. 2025
Verb
The shambling Cliff and the spiky Didi make for an odd couple.
—Peter Tonguette, The Washington Examiner, 19 Sep. 2025
At the same time, no one in metal was funnier, more in touch with his own bathos, more post–Spinal Tap, in a sense, than Ozzy, especially in his shambling-paterfamilias incarnation on MTV’s reality show The Osbournes.
—James Parker, The Atlantic, 12 Sep. 2025
Adjective
The Walking Dead keeps shambling along, now splintered into a bunch of pretty lackluster spinoffs.
—Erik Kain, Forbes.com, 6 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for shambling
Verb
-
The video shows agents ducking for cover in front of two white vans while quickly shuffling detainees inside the facility, where an ICE agent frantically guided the detainees down a hallway.—
Peter D'Abrosca , Brooke Taylor,
FOXNews.com,
26 Sep. 2025
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Instead of shuffling through the deep cabinet shelves for small jars, attach rows of slim shelves with dowel rods to safely hold a few dozen spices.—
Mary Cornetta,
Better Homes & Gardens,
24 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The episode ends with a surreal, graphic deepfake scene of a totally nude Donald Trump stumbling around a desert.—
Nick Marx,
The Conversation,
11 Sep. 2025
-
Inside the agency, Dudek, ill-prepared for leadership or for DOGE’s murky agenda, was stumbling through the chaos in part by creating some of his own.—
Eli Hager,
ProPublica,
8 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The fresh data arrives at a wobbly moment for the nation's economy.—
Max Zahn,
ABC News,
25 Sep. 2025
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Some analysts express hope the Bay Area’s innovation economy can help steady the region’s wobbly job market, especially if cutting-edge sectors such as artificial intelligence spark hiring in this region.—
George Avalos,
Mercury News,
19 Sep. 2025
Verb
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The Norwegian stomping clear of a defence caught too high up the pitch.—
Jordan Campbell,
New York Times,
24 Sep. 2025
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Throngs of teenagers can be seen in the videos hitting, kicking, stomping and pushing victims.—
Robert Anglen,
AZCentral.com,
24 Sep. 2025
Adjective
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The contrast with Durant’s lumpish Johnny makes no sense.—
Charles McNulty,
Los Angeles Times,
11 Oct. 2024
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Because both actors look like lumpish proletarian versions of Ingmar Bergman stars — Alma Pöysti, radiant yet benumbed, plays Ansa like a dish-towel Bibi Andersson, and Jussi Vatanen could be the schlump brother of Max von Sydow (with a dollop of Ryan Gosling).—
Owen Gleiberman,
Variety,
23 May 2023
Adjective
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House of Guinness tends to be wise about the ways both business and family are built over an unsteady and ever-changing series of negotiations for power and status.—
Jackson McHenry,
Vulture,
25 Sep. 2025
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What the map did not show was that few hikers attempt this route due to its exposure and the extra time, water, and stamina required of a lengthy and strenuous Class II scramble up and down a trio of ever-taller unnamed 13,000-foot mountains of loose talus and unsteady granite blocks.—
Ted Katauskas,
Outside,
23 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Shambling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/shambling. Accessed 2 Oct. 2025.
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