totter

verb

ˈtä-tər How to pronounce totter (audio)
Definition of totternext
1
as in to stagger
to move forward while swaying from side to side tottered around the house as she practiced walking in high heels

Synonyms & Similar Words

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2
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 Now, even that tiny effort is tottering. — Mark Z. Barabak, Mercury News, 27 Jan. 2026 Women often totter along a delicate line between beauty and torture, femininity and the bondage of expectation. — Jane Wooldridge, Miami Herald, 7 Dec. 2025 But The Gilded Age doesn’t do pure villains with its main cast, and Oscar totters between failson and tragic figure, the closeted heir of the Van Rhijn family dragged to hell and back after being defrauded of his mother’s fortune. — Kathryn Vanarendonk, Vulture, 1 Dec. 2025 On the floor, waist-high piles of books tottered like miniature leaning towers of Pisa. — The Christian Science Monitor, Christian Science Monitor, 12 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for totter
Recent Examples of Synonyms for totter
  1. stagger
  2. falter
  3. lurch
  4. tremble
  5. shake
  6. wobble
Verb
  • The funding document stated that the funding would be staggered and tied to different stages of the project, such as the official announcement of filming in Madrid, the start of shooting, and that Madrid had to appear in the film’s title.
    — Andreas Wiseman, Deadline, 24 Aug. 2026
  • Darwin, by then forty-nine and not in the greatest health, was staggered.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 20 Aug. 2026
Definition of stagger
Verb
  • In the rest of the state, Graham prevailed — including in the Charleston area, where former governor and congressman Mark Sanford endorsed Norman after his own Senate campaign faltered.
    — David Weigel, semafor.com, 26 Aug. 2026
  • The same list of conditions is relevant to the debates about our faltering literacy.
    — Christopher Coffman, The Conversation, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of falter
Verb
  • Maresca, though, does not appear to have much taste for the Premier League’s lurch towards balls into the box.
    — Sam Lee, New York Times, 11 Aug. 2026
  • The United States, which had been lurching toward entry in the Second World War, was suddenly and inescapably thrust into global conflict.
    — Tracy Grant, Encyclopedia Britannica, 7 Aug. 2026
Definition of lurch
Verb
  • Those afflicted would tremble and jerk around, lose the ability to stand or swallow, and, after many months of slow suffering, die.
    — David Remnick, New Yorker, 17 Aug. 2026
  • Back in their dorm room after the beating, Valentine watched as Okeadu began to tremble uncontrollably.
    — ABC News, ABC News, 30 June 2026
Definition of tremble
Verb
  • Miami likely will hold off on signing a 15th player to a standard contract, at least for now, in order to see who shakes free in the buyout market.
    — Barry Jackson, Miami Herald, 24 Aug. 2026
  • For some, fall fashion starts with color, working in warm browns and flashes of crimson red or shaking typical neutrals up with pops of cobalt blue.
    — Minty Mellon, Vogue, 24 Aug. 2026
Definition of shake
Verb
  • The ball wobbled, but Fields got underneath it for about a 40-yard catch.
    — Pat Leonard, New York Daily News, 20 Aug. 2026
  • The thunder sound was a combination of wobbling window of shades of the ’40s to achieve that old school thunder sound that was layered in with some newer thunderclap sounds.
    — Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 19 Aug. 2026
Definition of wobble

Browse Nearby Words

totted (up)
totter
tottered
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Cite this Entry

“Totter.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/totter. Accessed 29 Aug. 2026.

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