staggered

English

Llansamlet railway station in Wales, showing the staggered platforms - the photographer is standing on one of them

Pronunciation

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -æɡə(ɹ)d

Verb

staggered

1. simple past and past participle of stagger

   The drunk staggered to the end of the bar before he collapsed.

Adjective

staggered (comparative more staggered, superlative most staggered)

1. Astonished; taken aback.
2. Arranged in a way that is not uniform.

   The U.S. Senate holds staggered elections, with only one third of the seats being filled every two years.

3. (rail transport, of platforms at a station) Not directly opposite each other.
   • 1959 May, Yorkshireman, “The Huddersfield-Penistone line and its branches”, in Trains Illustrated, page 253:

     The line now veers slightly south through a wooded cutting before arriving at the staggered platforms of Stocksmoor station (6½ miles) and a further ¾-mile stretch of level track leads to Shepley & Shelley (7¼ miles).

Derived terms

• staggered shelves

Translations

astonished — see astonished

Anagrams

• raggedest