1. Miss a step and fall or nearly fall
   "She stumbled over the tree root";
   - trip
    
2. Walk unsteadily, tripping repeatedly
   "The drunk man stumbled about";
   - falter, bumble
    
3. Encounter by chance
   "I stumbled across a long-lost cousin last night in a restaurant";
   - hit
    
4. Make an error
   "She stumbled and revealed the name";
   - slip up [informal], trip up
    
5. Speak haltingly or with difficulty
   "He stumbled over the difficult words"

1. An unsteady uneven gait
   "His stumble betrayed his intoxication";
   - lurch, stagger
    
2. An unintentional but embarrassing blunder
   "he recited the whole poem without a single stumble";
   - trip, trip-up, misstep

Derived forms: stumbled, stumbles, stumbling

See also: slew, slip

Type of: bloomer [informal], blooper [N. Amer, informal], blue [Austral, NZ, informal], blunder, boner [N. Amer, informal], boob [Brit, informal], boo-boo [informal], botch, bungle, come by, come into, err, flub [N. Amer, informal], foul-up [informal], gait, goof [informal], mistake, move, pratfall [informal], slip, walk

Encyclopedia: Stumble