as in falling
to go down from an upright position suddenly and involuntarily
the tower of blocks toppled even though I bumped into it ever so slightly
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Recent Examples of toppling
An OpenAI reasoning model recently overturned a conjecture Paul Erdős posed in 1946, toppling an eighty-year assumption in combinatorial geometry by importing machinery from algebraic number theory — two fields with no obvious reason to meet.
—
Christian Catalini, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
The Regis Jesuit Raiders captured the 5A state championship, toppling Arvada West 5-3 for their first crown in seven years.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 31 May 2026
The French giants will take some toppling and are 6/5 to win the game in 90 minutes.
—Graham Ruthven, New York Times, 30 May 2026
The president has also sought to make significant changes to the White House, toppling its historic East Wing to make room for a massive, multimillion-dollar ballroom, paving over parts of the historic Rose Garden and redecorating the Executive Mansion's interior and exterior.
—Brooke Migdon, PEOPLE, 29 May 2026
Two rounds of swift but strong thunderstorms blew through Chicago Monday morning and afternoon, toppling a small plane at Midway Airport and leaving some power outages and damage in their wake.
—Adam Harrington, CBS News, 18 May 2026
On May 7, the midfielder surpassed 331 career goals for the Raiders, toppling the school record that Dietrick held since 2011.
—Brendan Connelly, Boston Herald, 18 May 2026
Such toppling energy may be necessary for Ionesco’s vision to spontaneously ignite into antic life.
—Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2026
Dash camera video from inside the truck shows the moment of impact and appears to show the truck toppling onto its side.
—Josh Funk, Fortune, 4 May 2026
Christian Catalini, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
The Regis Jesuit Raiders captured the 5A state championship, toppling Arvada West 5-3 for their first crown in seven years.
—Troy Renck, Denver Post, 31 May 2026
The French giants will take some toppling and are 6/5 to win the game in 90 minutes.
—Graham Ruthven, New York Times, 30 May 2026
The president has also sought to make significant changes to the White House, toppling its historic East Wing to make room for a massive, multimillion-dollar ballroom, paving over parts of the historic Rose Garden and redecorating the Executive Mansion's interior and exterior.
—Brooke Migdon, PEOPLE, 29 May 2026
Two rounds of swift but strong thunderstorms blew through Chicago Monday morning and afternoon, toppling a small plane at Midway Airport and leaving some power outages and damage in their wake.
—Adam Harrington, CBS News, 18 May 2026
On May 7, the midfielder surpassed 331 career goals for the Raiders, toppling the school record that Dietrick held since 2011.
—Brendan Connelly, Boston Herald, 18 May 2026
Such toppling energy may be necessary for Ionesco’s vision to spontaneously ignite into antic life.
—Theater Critic, Los Angeles Times, 13 May 2026
Dash camera video from inside the truck shows the moment of impact and appears to show the truck toppling onto its side.
—Josh Funk, Fortune, 4 May 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for toppling
Verb
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Although the push to get Huang out of the race failed, the leftist’s campaign ended up falling flat, securing less than 3% of the vote in the primary.—
Noah Goldberg,
Los Angeles Times,
9 June 2026
-
Wall Street, meanwhile, got some relief from falling oil prices.—
Stan Choe,
Fortune,
9 June 2026
Verb
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For them, a smarter alert can mean the difference between landing ready for a boardroom and stumbling in after an overnight airport stay.—
Gretchen Wittenmyer-Stone,
Miami Herald,
9 June 2026
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Below him, drunken partiers are stumbling back from a day in the unrelenting sun at the MGM Grand’s pool, many of them carrying inflatable tubes, and nearly all in various stages of undress.—
Joseph Hudak,
Rolling Stone,
8 June 2026
Verb
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Iliman Ndiaye should have conceded a penalty at Molineux for tripping Hugo Bueno while Garner deserved to be sent off at Villa Park.—
Graham Scott,
New York Times,
2 June 2026
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Beauchamp tripping back in time, lost and separated in the highlands of 18th century Scotland.—
Tony Maglio,
HollywoodReporter,
1 June 2026
Verb
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Imagine a huge scorpion the size of a baseball bat, scrambling over mossy rocks and around large, treelike structures before slipping into a nearby stream.—
Shraddha Chakradhar,
CNN Money,
10 June 2026
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And then there were celebration performances for The Book of Mormon (15th anniversary) and Chicago (30th anniversary), with stars from the past slipping back into their old roles.—
Dalton Ross,
Entertainment Weekly,
8 June 2026
Verb
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Investors have fled Jakarta’s equity markets since the start of the year, with the Jakarta Composite tumbling over 35% year to date.—
Lim Hui Jie,
CNBC,
9 June 2026
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In Brooklyn, where wind gusts reached 64 mph, video showed furniture tumbling across the deck of a rooftop pool.—
Emily Mae Czachor,
CBS News,
8 June 2026
Cite this Entry
“Toppling.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/toppling. Accessed 14 Jun. 2026.
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