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 While Mayfield is 3-0 in Week 1 since coming to Tampa Bay in 2023, Burrow and the Bengals have often stumbled out of the gate. — Joe Reedy, The Orlando Sentinel, 11 Sep. 2026 On this day in 1940, four teenage boys stumbled upon one of the world’s most significant archaeological finds—through a fox’s den, 50 feet down to an underground passageway, and into a network of caves. — Michele Metych Britannica Editors Sep. 10, Encyclopedia Britannica, 10 Sep. 2026 But since then, Nosková has solidified while Sabalenka has stumbled, and the Czech has also gotten through some tough matches to reach this one. — Ava Wallace, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026 The Yankees stumbled a bit to the finish line that regular season, going 9-8-1 after 9/11. — Filip Bondy, New York Daily News, 7 Sep. 2026 Every time the Bears stumbled, the Bruins delivered a cold-blooded return. — Dieter Kurtenbach, Mercury News, 6 Sep. 2026 In July 1990, four children stumbled upon the body, which was unable to be identified due to the severity of her injuries. — Lillian Metzmeier, Louisville Courier Journal, 2 Sep. 2026 That's what happened when Kerr stumbled upon the three grizzly bears, and the adult female wasn't pleased to see him. — David Hookstead Outkick, FOXNews.com, 1 Sep. 2026 But most of the attempts to scale sodium-ion cells stumbled over short lifespans and poor heat tolerance. — Mrigakshi Dixit, Interesting Engineering, 27 Aug. 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for stumbled

Verb

The goal came after Furuhashi got loose on a breakaway up the middle of the pitch, only to be felled by New England’s Will Sands in the center of the box, leaving referee Drew Fischer with an easy penalty call.

— Kevin Baxter, Los Angeles Times, 6 Sep. 2026
Mosaic terrazzo floors with a palm motif are nods to both Tiberius’s villas here and the Ethiopian palm that once stood like an icon outside the hotel, which was felled by a storm in the 1960s.

— Condé Nast, Condé Nast Traveler, 3 Sep. 2026

Definition of fell

Verb

The 23-year-old struggled in the defeat to Argentina before adding his seventh of the tournament against France in the third-place play-off.

— Anantaajith Raghuraman, New York Times, 9 Sep. 2026
His 81-year-old partner has struggled without Vela Gonzalez, her primary caretaker.

— Itzel Luna, Los Angeles Times, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of struggled

Verb

In the immediate aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, many studios either shuffled their product directly to streaming or waited a mere 17 days for their films to become available to buy or rent at home.

— Patrick Ryan, USA Today, 3 Sep. 2026
For nearly a year and a half, he was shuffled around detention centers in Texas, Arizona, Louisiana and Florida, until arriving in the Alexandria International Airport in mid-August.

— Syra Ortiz Blanes, Miami Herald, 2 Sep. 2026

Definition of shuffled

Verb

After Jordan fumbled away a screen pass, Maiava later found Mosley for that 68-yard score.

— Ryan Kartje, Los Angeles Times, 5 Sep. 2026
Balogun didn’t hurt his stock or his public image by walking away from Everton, a club that fumbled its way through another transfer window.

— Paul Tenorio, New York Times, 4 Sep. 2026

Definition of fumbled

Verb

An older man to my right tripped and took a face-first dive across the pavement, glasses flying off his face.

— Timothy Townsend, Rolling Stone, 11 Sep. 2026
Mizzou tripped Kansas 42-31 last season in Columbia, went 4-1 against the Jayhawks uninterrupted from 2007-11 at Arrowhead Stadium and also conquered KU 42-17 in 2006 at Memorial Stadium in Columbia.

— Gary Bedore, Kansas City Star, 11 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

Even when stomped into the mud by a 17,500-pound apex predator, dinosaur footprints rarely last long enough to fossilize over millions of years.

— Andrew Paul, Popular Science, 9 Sep. 2026
As Flores was still celebrating, Bjornsson — the previous deadlift world-record holder (510kg) — stomped up to him and reached out to grasp his rival, but only to offer a congratulatory hug of genuine warmth and affection.

— Rob Tanner, New York Times, 8 Sep. 2026

Definition of stomped

Verb

Hybrid work increased slightly while fully remote work shrank slightly; average remote hours slipped only from 27 to 26 hours over the measured period.

— Gleb Tsipursky, Washington Post, 11 Sep. 2026
As the last of the September light slipped behind Central Park Wednesday evening, a small group of guests made their way into the Conservatory Garden, one of the park’s quieter gems and a place that remains unfamiliar even to many New Yorkers.

— Thomas Waller, Footwear News, 10 Sep. 2026