staggering

English

Pronunciation

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Verb

staggering

1. present participle and gerund of stagger

Adjective

staggering (comparative more staggering, superlative most staggering)

1. Incredible, overwhelming, amazing.

   The army suffered a staggering defeat.

   • 1960 December, Voyageur, “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 754:

     It is this stretch which provides what is perhaps the most staggering scenic prospect of all; the impression made on the mind by the overwhelming height of the Eiger, towering over the train, is almost impossible to describe.

2. Lurching, floundering.

Derived terms

• staggeringly

Translations

incredible, overwhelming, amazing

• Bulgarian: зашеметяващ (bg) (zašemetjavašt), замайващ (bg) (zamajvašt), поразителен (bg) (porazitelen)
• Finnish: ällistyttävä (fi)
• Italian: sconcertante (it), sconvolgente (it)
• Portuguese: impressionante (pt), incrível (pt), espantoso (pt) m
• Romanian: uluitor (ro), incredibil (ro), uimitor (ro)
• Russian: ошеломляющий (ru) (ošelomljajuščij), потряса́ющий (ru) (potrjasájuščij)

Translations

lurching, floundering

• German: taumelnd (de), wankend (de), torkelnd (de)

Noun

staggering (plural staggerings)

1. The motion of one who staggers.
   • 1837, “Memoirs of Mirabeau”, in The Westminster Review, volume 26, page 436:

     There are to whom the gods, in their bounty, give glory: but far oftener it is given in wrath, as a curse and a poison; disturbing the whole inner health and industry of the man; leading onward through dizzy staggerings and tarantula jiggings […]

2. The condition of being staggered or amazed.
   • 1738, Ebenezer Erskine, The Annals of Redeeming Love:

     But these doubts, and fears, and staggerings, although they may be in the believer, yet they are not in his faith; these things argue the infirmity of his faith, indeed; but under all this, faith is fighting for the victory […]

3. In animation, the repetition of a sequence of frames to show struggling effort

An example of the animation technique "staggering" as seen in "The Dover Boys" (1942, dir. Chuck Jones)

References

• “staggering”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.