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as in to falter
to swing unsteadily back and forth or from side to side the figurine tottered precariously for a moment before falling off the shelf

Synonyms & Similar Words

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 totter Through a popular uprising and a long and hideous civil war, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s regime tottered at times, but held on, propped up by allies Russia and Iran. Matthew Carey, Deadline, 25 Mar. 2025 If the bottom falls out of, say, the Chinese real-estate market—among the largest asset classes in the world—the entire global economy could totter. Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025 The country’s economy is tottering and reliant on IMF bailouts, while the powerful military is entrenched in every aspect of life, according to its critics. Sophia Saifi, CNN, 22 Feb. 2025 Buruma has much to say about the shifting sands of loyalties as the Nazi and Japanese empires collapsed and the dominions of the old European imperialist powers tottered. Max Hastings, Foreign Affairs, 15 Oct. 2013 See All Example Sentences for totter
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totter
Verb
  • Wounded by multiple gunshots, Barron staggered a little more than 17 feet away from his truck and from Maltos and Olvera, documents said.
    Jose R. Gonzalez, AZCentral.com, 25 Sep. 2025
  • Things looked less promising three weeks ago as the Mariners staggered through their second three-city East Coast trip in a month.
    Tyler Kepner, New York Times, 24 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Max Verstappen's victories in the last two Grands Prix have brought him back into the championship fight, although the 69-point gap to Piastri can only be achieved if McLaren falters on every race weekend.
    Saajan Jogia, MSNBC Newsweek, 28 Sep. 2025
  • Years later, Rick Ankiel, a Cardinals pitcher, could no longer throw strikes—yet, when he was moved to the outfield, his accuracy rarely faltered from a greater distance.
    Jonathan Blitzer, New Yorker, 28 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • On Halloween of 2022, just weeks into the new school year, senior Ehni Ler Htoo was making his way through the halls of Proctor High School in Utica, New York, when a fellow student lurched at him from behind, repeatedly plunging a 9-inch hunting knife into his back.
    Tonya Simpson, ABC News, 24 Sep. 2025
  • Despite that notable change, watching One Battle After Another is much like the experience of reading Pynchon, who lurches from high comedy to stomach-turning naturalism and punctuates plot-heavy sequences with little grace notes of character portraiture.
    Paul A. Thompson, Pitchfork, 24 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • In the elevator of the Associated Press Building at Rockefeller Plaza, Sunny’s brows trembled.
    Kiran Desai, New Yorker, 3 Aug. 2025
  • But then the cheers from his fans would begin, and Hogan would tremble with energy.
    John DeVore, Rolling Stone, 26 July 2025
Verb
  • Part of the pleasure is how the rayographs wobble between metaphor and utensil, abstraction and figuration.
    Zachary Fine, New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2025
  • The rotating fan clicked, wobbled, and turned the other way.
    Lauren Rothery, Harpers Magazine, 19 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • After 30 minutes or so, pause the machine, remove the comforter, and shake it out before adding it back to the drum, continuing the process until the bedding is fully dry.
    Patricia Shannon, Southern Living, 28 Sep. 2025
  • The earthquake shook at a depth of just 3 miles, with its epicenter approximately 10 miles south of Trona.
    CA Earthquake Bot, Sacbee.com, 28 Sep. 2025
Verb
  • Society has been rocked in the past seven days by comedy and politics, by debates about authoritarianism and free speech, and by a reckoning about the great divide across the United States.
    Kelly Lawler, USA Today, 23 Sep. 2025
  • At the stick in the cockpit’s left seat is Randy Oates, a Helitack pilot rocking a ZZ Top beard in a flight helmet and Nomex coveralls.
    Ted Katauskas, Outside, 23 Sep. 2025

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Cite this Entry

“Totter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totter. Accessed 30 Sep. 2025.

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