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STAGGERING
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
So surprisingly impressive as to stun or overwhelm
Example:
the figure inside the boucle dress was stupefying
Synonyms:
astonishing; astounding; staggering; stupefying
Classified under:
Similar:
impressive (making a strong or vivid impression)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
-ing form of the verb stagger
Context examples:
As Buck grew winded, Spitz took to rushing, and he kept him staggering for footing.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
"Will no one come?" it cried; and then, while the staggering and stamping went on wildly, I distinguished through plank and plaster:—Rochester!
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
Captain Benwick obeyed, and Charles at the same moment, disengaging himself from his wife, they were both with him; and Louisa was raised up and supported more firmly between them, and everything was done that Anne had prompted, but in vain; while Captain Wentworth, staggering against the wall for his support, exclaimed in the bitterest agony—Oh God! her father and mother!
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
And the next moment he was standing over it, staggering and swaying on shaky legs, clutching at the air for support, and saying in a voice he did not recognize: D'ye want any more? Say, d'ye want any more?
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
“That’s as it may be, guv’nor,” said the half-drunken ruffian, staggering to his feet.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Clinging to the woodwork, staggering with the roll of the ship, and aided by the cook, I managed to slip into a rough woollen undershirt.
(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)
They were limping and staggering.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
At this the negro took heart of grace, and picking up his dagger again he came stealing with prowling step and murderous eye, while the two swayed backwards and forwards, staggering this way and that.
(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
I put up at the old inn, and went down to look at the sea; staggering along the street, which was strewn with sand and seaweed, and with flying blotches of sea-foam; afraid of falling slates and tiles; and holding by people I met, at angry corners.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
He did not know that the Transcontinental had been staggering along precariously for years, that it was a fourth-rater, or tenth-rater, without standing, with a crazy circulation that partly rested on petty bullying and partly on patriotic appealing, and with advertisements that were scarcely more than charitable donations.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
