"tottering" meaning in English

See tottering in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Adjective

Forms: more tottering [comparative], most tottering [superlative]
Head templates: {{en-adj}} tottering (comparative more tottering, superlative most tottering)
  1. Unsteady, precarious or rickety.
    Sense id: en-tottering-en-adj-j8cE5AWM
  2. Unstable, insecure or wobbly. Translations (wobbly): σφαλερός (sphalerós) (Ancient Greek), wackelnd (German), schwankend (German), cādūcus (Latin), hūoioi (Māori), chwiejny (Polish)
    Sense id: en-tottering-en-adj-eMaFtRN3 Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, Entries with translation boxes, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with Ancient Greek translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Latin translations, Terms with Māori translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 17 47 26 11 Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 19 53 13 15 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 17 57 12 14 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 11 72 8 9 Disambiguation of Terms with Ancient Greek translations: 15 54 20 10 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 13 65 14 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Latin translations: 10 71 10 8 Disambiguation of Terms with Māori translations: 11 70 11 9 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 17 60 14 10 Disambiguation of 'wobbly': 27 73

Noun

Forms: totterings [plural]
Head templates: {{en-noun}} tottering (plural totterings)
  1. The movement of one who totters. Synonyms (not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over): precarious, rickety, shaky, unsteady, unsafe, unstable, wobbly
    Sense id: en-tottering-en-noun-MhaEEi-A

Verb

Head templates: {{head|en|verb form}} tottering
  1. present participle and gerund of totter Tags: form-of, gerund, participle, present Form of: totter
    Sense id: en-tottering-en-verb-jvxjgVNZ

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
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        "present participle and gerund of totter"
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      "id": "en-tottering-en-verb-jvxjgVNZ",
      "links": [
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      "tags": [
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  "word": "tottering"
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{
  "forms": [
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      "form": "more tottering",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
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    },
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      "form": "most tottering",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
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        "Unsteady, precarious or rickety."
      ],
      "id": "en-tottering-en-adj-j8cE5AWM",
      "links": [
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          "Unsteady",
          "unsteady"
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        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
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          "_dis": "17 47 26 11",
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          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "19 53 13 15",
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          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
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          "_dis": "17 57 12 14",
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        },
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "17 60 14 10",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
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        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Unstable, insecure or wobbly."
      ],
      "id": "en-tottering-en-adj-eMaFtRN3",
      "links": [
        [
          "Unstable",
          "unstable"
        ],
        [
          "insecure",
          "insecure"
        ],
        [
          "wobbly",
          "wobbly"
        ]
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "27 73",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "wobbly",
          "word": "wackelnd"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "27 73",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "wobbly",
          "word": "schwankend"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "27 73",
          "code": "grc",
          "lang": "Ancient Greek",
          "lang_code": "grc",
          "roman": "sphalerós",
          "sense": "wobbly",
          "word": "σφαλερός"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "27 73",
          "code": "la",
          "lang": "Latin",
          "lang_code": "la",
          "sense": "wobbly",
          "word": "cādūcus"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "27 73",
          "code": "mi",
          "lang": "Māori",
          "lang_code": "mi",
          "sense": "wobbly",
          "word": "hūoioi"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "27 73",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "wobbly",
          "word": "chwiejny"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "tottering"
}

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  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "totterings",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
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  "senses": [
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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        }
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        "The movement of one who totters."
      ],
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          "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
          "word": "precarious"
        },
        {
          "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
          "word": "rickety"
        },
        {
          "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
          "word": "shaky"
        },
        {
          "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
          "word": "unsteady"
        },
        {
          "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
          "word": "unsafe"
        },
        {
          "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
          "word": "unstable"
        },
        {
          "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
          "word": "wobbly"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "tottering"
}
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    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Latin translations",
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    "Terms with Polish translations"
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        "superlative"
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  "lang_code": "en",
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        "Unsteady, precarious or rickety."
      ],
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          "Unsteady",
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          "precarious",
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        "Unstable, insecure or wobbly."
      ],
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          "Unstable",
          "unstable"
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          "insecure",
          "insecure"
        ],
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          "wobbly",
          "wobbly"
        ]
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "wobbly",
      "word": "wackelnd"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "wobbly",
      "word": "schwankend"
    },
    {
      "code": "grc",
      "lang": "Ancient Greek",
      "lang_code": "grc",
      "roman": "sphalerós",
      "sense": "wobbly",
      "word": "σφαλερός"
    },
    {
      "code": "la",
      "lang": "Latin",
      "lang_code": "la",
      "sense": "wobbly",
      "word": "cādūcus"
    },
    {
      "code": "mi",
      "lang": "Māori",
      "lang_code": "mi",
      "sense": "wobbly",
      "word": "hūoioi"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "wobbly",
      "word": "chwiejny"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tottering"
}

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    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Latin translations",
    "Terms with Māori translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations"
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  "pos": "noun",
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          "ref": "1918, George Moore, A Storyteller's Holiday:",
          "text": "Its faint descent tried the powers of the horse to keep back the car, and so feeble were his totterings that I began to fear we should miss the train[…]",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The movement of one who totters."
      ]
    }
  ],
  "synonyms": [
    {
      "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
      "word": "precarious"
    },
    {
      "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
      "word": "rickety"
    },
    {
      "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
      "word": "shaky"
    },
    {
      "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
      "word": "unsteady"
    },
    {
      "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
      "word": "unsafe"
    },
    {
      "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
      "word": "unstable"
    },
    {
      "sense": "not held or fixed securely and likely to fall over",
      "word": "wobbly"
    }
  ],
  "word": "tottering"
}

Download raw JSONL data for tottering meaning in English (4.1kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-02-08 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-02-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.