1. Unsteady in gait as from infirmity or old age
   "a tottering skeleton of a horse";
   - tottery
    
2. (of structures or institutions) having lost stability; failing or on the point of collapse
   "a tottering empire"

1. Walk unsteadily, with short steps
   "small children totter";
   - toddle, coggle, dodder, paddle, waddle
    
2. Move without being stable, as if threatening to fall
   "The drunk man tottered over to our table"
    
3. Move unsteadily, with a rocking motion
   "The drunk man tottered on the edge of the pavement";
   - teeter, seesaw

See also: unstable, unsteady

Type of: move, rock, shake, sway, walk

Encyclopedia: Totter, Stephen