STUMBLED Synonyms: 124 Similar and Opposite Words

stumbled

verb

past tense of stumble

as in fell

to go down from an upright position suddenly and involuntarily the bride stumbled on the altar steps and landed smack in the arms of the minister

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in struggled

to proceed or act clumsily or ineffectually stumbled twice while she was reciting the "Gettysburg Address"

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in shuffled

to move heavily or clumsily the tipsy revelers left the path and wearily stumbled through the tangled undergrowth

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in fumbled

to make a mistake that network announcer rarely stumbles when he's on the air

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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 stumbled Kore-eda stumbled on the manga in a bookshop rather than through its serial run. — Naman Ramachandran, Variety, 7 Oct. 2026 Jessica Koslow stumbled upon them at another shop, Virgil Normal, resulting in a collaboration with her restaurant Sqirl. — Stephanie Breijo, Los Angeles Times, 7 Oct. 2026 So why has Hyperliquid’s DAT flourished while the others have stumbled? — Camila Grigera Naón, Fortune, 5 Oct. 2026 Of the seven clubs that had 14 or more players from their organizations appear in the WBC, several stumbled early and only the Phillies and Brewers made the postseason. — Kansas City Star, 4 Oct. 2026 Hernández stumbled through July and August before a swing fix sparked a September turnaround. — Beth Harris, Chicago Tribune, 4 Oct. 2026 The Sooners stumbled out of the AP rankings in September, but their defense still boasts some future NFL players who could tighten up this matchup. — Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 1 Oct. 2026 Colorado stumbled out of its Big 12 opener with a 23-13 loss to Baylor, dropping Coach Prime's Buffaloes to 2-2 and looking like (potentially) the worst team in the conference. — Amber Harding Outkick, FOXNews.com, 30 Sep. 2026 A couple of years later, Noah Kravitz of Oxford, unaware of Müyesser and Pokrovskiy’s solution, stumbled on Graham’s conjecture in an online archive of unsolved problems. — Shalma Wegsman, Quanta Magazine, 28 Sep. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for stumbled

Verb

Yet trees that took a millennium to grow can be felled in under an hour.

— Annika Hammerschlag, Los Angeles Times, 16 Sep. 2026
Vines are pulled away from fences, and sometimes trees are even felled.

— The Washington Post, San Diego Union-Tribune, 12 Sep. 2026

Definition of fell

Verb

In the midst of the rush to finish my syllabi and opening week assignments, as my husband shuffled the kids into their sneakers and Crocs and the car for one last back-to-school outing, everything stopped.

— Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 5 Oct. 2026
There was the sound of the occasional slipper scraping across the carpet as players and coaches shuffled from the showers.

— Brendan Kuty, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026

Definition of shuffled

Verb

Harris fumbled with the Giants driving in Arizona territory early in the fourth quarter.

— Doug Haller, New York Times, 4 Oct. 2026
The Cougars were stopped at the UCF 3 on consecutive drives before Overmyer fumbled at the UCF 7 and into the end zone, recovered by the Knights.

— ABC News, ABC News, 3 Oct. 2026

Definition of fumbled

Verb

The truest sign that Joseph had tripped the Rams up with Hufanga’s blitz came by looking at Rams right guard Kevin Dotson.

— Nick Kosmider, New York Times, 2 Oct. 2026
Since then, price has completely round-tripped the move, giving back the entire post-earnings gap and settling back into the mid-$250s.

— Josh Brown,Sean Russo, CNBC, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of tripped

Verb

Rubio is the president’s top adviser on both national security and diplomacy at a moment when the United States has blundered into an unpopular war that appears to be a strategic catastrophe.

— David A. Graham, The Atlantic, 11 May 2026
Padres fielders blundered in three of his outings.

— Tom Krasovic, San Diego Union-Tribune, 17 Apr. 2026

Definition of blundered

Verb

As a result, the Great Lawn had to be shut down two months ealier for repairs and resodding after tens of thousands of concertgoers stomped it into a muddy mess.

— Lincoln Anderson, New York Daily News, 23 Sep. 2026
Letter writers recalled how Paden saved his father’s life when a cow nearly stomped him to death in a field, after the elder Paden came between the cow and her calf.

— Glenn Rice, Kansas City Star, 21 Sep. 2026

Definition of stomped

Verb

His penchant for the audacious was on display in 2024 when Puigdemont suddenly appeared in Barcelona, gave a public speech and slipped through the police’s grip.

— Joseph Wilson, Los Angeles Times, 6 Oct. 2026
The father lifted the child to check out the hotel's waterpark visible from a window when the boy somehow slipped and tumbled 12 meters (about 40 feet), falling to his death.

— ABC News, ABC News, 6 Oct. 2026