STUMBLES Synonyms: 166 Similar and Opposite Words

stumbles 1 of 2

verb

present tense third-person singular of stumble

as in falls

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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as in struggles

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

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as in shuffles

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

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as in fumbles

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

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stumbles

2 of 2

noun

plural of stumble

as in mistakes

an unintentional departure from truth or accuracy was his hurtful remark a regrettable stumble, or was it made with artful intention?

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms

as in tumbles

the act of going down from an upright position suddenly and involuntarily has bones so brittle that a minor stumble could result in a serious break

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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 stumbles

Verb

The film will follow a boy (Leber), left to his own devices, who stumbles upon a secret late-night broadcast of lizards playing otherworldly music. — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 15 Oct. 2026 While going through Verity’s files, Lowen stumbles on her memoir, an alleged confession. — Bethy Squires, Vulture, 5 Oct. 2026 But here, too, Wladyka stumbles, opting for a comforting but pat ending about how dance and art enliven so many lives. — Los Angeles Times, 25 Sep. 2026 Early in the book, there’s a disturbing scene in which Cathy’s mother stumbles upon a half naked 10-year-old Cathy lying on the floor beneath two teenage boys. — Hillary Busis, Vanity Fair, 25 Sep. 2026 Liberty stumbles down after escaping 24-23 against a winless FCS Gardner-Webb team that has an interim head coach. — Chris Vannini, New York Times, 14 Sep. 2026 Byron Nelson stumbles again Normally an area power, Trophy Club Byron Nelson is off to a rocky start. — Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Sep. 2026 Camp’s turn here as a kooky neighbor who stumbles into an unexpected romance is exactly the kind of role that gets a room talking (and laughing). — Clayton Davis, Variety, 4 Sep. 2026 But as the gyrations historically go, California’s economy somehow steadied in mid-2026, even as the rest of the country stumbles. — Jonathan Lansner, Oc Register, 4 Sep. 2026

Noun

Sometimes there were big stumbles — notably episodes where characters played by Jane Krakowski and Jon Hamm were in blackface. — Maura Judkis, Washington Post, 7 Oct. 2026 Real breakthroughs rarely come without some stumbles and failures. — John Abou, Forbes.com, 28 Sep. 2026 According to the rules of the game, Joker can only give his team members hints while the rest of the class watches and laughs at their stumbles. — Will Collins, The Washington Examiner, 26 Sep. 2026 Alvarado stumbles, Kennedale climbs Alvarado has been a dominant Class 4A power in recent years. — Charles Baggarly, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5 Sep. 2026 Compounding those stumbles have been frequent defensive breakdowns. — ABC News, 16 Aug. 2026 Honeywell Aerospace shares tumbled 11% on Wednesday evening after the company reported weak quarterly results and cut its full-year outlook due to supply chain stumbles. — Jeff Marks, CNBC, 6 Aug. 2026 As the company pours IPO cash into aggressive global expansion, analysts warn that shareholder pressure and past quality stumbles could test its eco-conscious image — and Wall Street patience. — Los Angeles Times, 4 Aug. 2026 But Marvel has had its stumbles of late, and Sony’s Spider-Man-adjacent villain movies (like Madame Web, Morbius and Kraven the Hunter) have largely flopped, so neither is otherwise flawless at franchise management. — James Hibberd, HollywoodReporter, 30 July 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for stumbles

Verb

When carb intake falls sharply, the liver turns fat into ketones, an alternative fuel for the brain and other tissues that may cause less metabolic stress.

— Rowan Jacobsen, Scientific American, 20 Oct. 2026
Bangladesh’s experience shows the challenge of containing an outbreak when vaccination coverage falls below 95%, a level the WHO says is needed to prevent outbreaks.

— Reuters, NBC news, 19 Oct. 2026

Definition of falls

Verb

As energy supply struggles to keep pace with demand, those delays have drawn political attention and, finally, action, including significant legislation passed at the state level and a new bipartisan permitting reform bill proposed in the Senate.

— Dr. Sarah Kapnick, semafor.com, 20 Oct. 2026
Toxic haze has covered parts of Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore for weeks as Jakarta struggles to contain fires that have scorched large tracts of Borneo and Sumatra, with the smoke drifting across the region.

— Lim Hui Jie, CNBC, 20 Oct. 2026

Definition of struggles

Noun

George Santos took quite a few tumbles during his two-episode stint on the Fox reality show, but one — much to his chagrin — didn’t make it to air.

— Entertainment Weekly, Entertainment Weekly, 3 Oct. 2026
Some drives are rated as drop-proof (HDDs are more vulnerable to tumbles than SSDs), shock-proof, or crush-proof; an ingress protection (IP) rating denotes protection from dust, dirt, and water.

— George Yang, PC Magazine, 22 Sep. 2026

Definition of tumbles

Verb

Six months later, the war trudges on, indirectly ensnaring much of the world by severely disrupting global trade.

— Mark Sappenfield, Christian Science Monitor, 27 Aug. 2026
Enola dutifully trudges between clues and possibilities, shuffling through crime scenes and racing around shady spaces, all of this much more paint-by-numbers than connect-the-dots.

— Kate Erbland, IndieWire, 30 June 2026