falter vs stumble what difference

what is difference between falter and stumble

English

Alternative forms

• faulter (archaic)

Etymology

From Middle English falteren (“to stagger”), further origin unknown. Possibly from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse faltrask (“be encumbered”). May also be a frequentative of fold, although the change from d to t is unusual.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈfɔːltə(r)/, /ˈfɒltə(r)/

Noun

falter

1. unsteadiness.

Translations

Verb

falter (third-person singular simple present falters, present participle faltering, simple past and past participle faltered)

1. To waver or be unsteady; to weaken or trail off.
   • 1672, Richard Wiseman, A Treatise of Wounds

     He found his legs falter.
2. (transitive, intransitive) To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner.
   • 1807, Lord Byron, Childish Recollections

     And here he faltered forth his last farewell.
3. To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought.
   • 1832, Isaac Taylor, Saturday Evening

     Here indeed the power of distinctly conceiving of space and distance falters.

4. To stumble.
5. (figuratively) To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause).

   • And remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter.

6. To hesitate in purpose or action.
7. To cleanse or sift, as barley.

   (Can we find and add a quotation of Halliwell to this entry?)

Translations

References

English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *stam- (“to trip up; to stammer, stutter”), thereby related to German stumm (“mute”), Dutch stom (“dumb”). Doublet of stammer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈstʌmbəl/
• Rhymes: -ʌmbəl

Noun

stumble (plural stumbles)

1. A fall, trip or substantial misstep.
2. An error or blunder.
3. A clumsy walk.

Synonyms

• (a blunder): blooper, blunder, boo-boo, defect, error, fault, faux pas, fluff, gaffe, lapse, mistake, slip, thinko
• See also Thesaurus:error

Translations

Verb

stumble (third-person singular simple present stumbles, present participle stumbling, simple past and past participle stumbled)

1. (intransitive) To trip or fall; to walk clumsily.

2. (intransitive) To make a mistake or have trouble.

3. (transitive) To cause to stumble or trip.
4. (transitive, figuratively) To mislead; to confound; to cause to err or to fall.
   • One thing more stumbles me in the very foundation of this hypothesis.

5. To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; with on, upon, or against.
   • 1680, John Dryden, Ovid’s Epistles

     He [Ovid] had stumbled, by some inadvertency, upon the privacies of Livia […] in a bath.

   • 1754, Christopher Smart, Snake

     Forth as she waddled in the brake, / A grey goose stumbled on a snake.

Derived terms

• stumble across
• stumble against
• stumble on
• stumble upon

Translations

See also

• stumbling block

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021), “stumble”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.

Anagrams

• tumbles

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