Word.ws English Dictionary

falter

/ˈfɒltə/US/ˈfɔltəɹ/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

falter noun: an unsteadiness.

Noun

falter (plural falters)

  1. An unsteadiness.
    • Tom, who isn't paying much attention, is suddenly caught by the falter in his voice as he reads the two lines—2009, Ruth Cigman, Andrew Davis, New Philosophies of Learning, page 200

Verb

falter (third-person singular simple present falters, present participle faltering, simple past and past participle faltered)

  1. To waver or be unsteady; to weaken or trail off.
    • He found his legs falter.1672, Richard Wiseman, A Treatise of Wounds
    • Considering the results of the study, today John may be buoyed at the clear trend of increasing numbers of new “lishes” for each successive decade since the 1950s, and the fact that nothing in the data suggests this trend is likely to falter.2018, James Lambert, “A multitude of ‘lishes’: The nomenclature of hybridity”, in English World-Wide, page 18
  2. (ambitransitive) To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner.
    • And here he faltered forth his last farewell.1807, Lord Byron, Childish Recollections
    • With faltering speech and visage incomposed.1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished...
  3. To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought.
    • Here indeed the power of distinctly conceiving of space and distance falters.1832, [Isaac Taylor], Saturday Evening. […], London: Holdsworth and Ball, →OCLC
  4. To stumble.
  5. (figuratively) To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause).
    • And remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter.1943 November – 1944 February (date written; published 1945 August 17), George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], Animal Farm […], London: Secker & Warburg, published May 1962, →OCLC
    • The most important foreign policy problem I faced was that of signaling to the world what kind of man I was and what sort of policies I intended to carry out. It was important that there be no hesitancy on my part — nothing to indicate that the U.S. government had faltered. It was equally important...1971, Lyndon Johnson, “"I feel like I have already been here a year"”, in The Vantage Point, Holt, Reinhart & Winston, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 22
  6. To hesitate in purpose or action.
    • Ere her native king / Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms.1595 December 9 (first known performance), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Richard the Second”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies: Published According to...
  7. To cleanse or sift, as barley.
    • Barley[…]clean falter'd from Hairs1707, J[ohn] Mortimer, The Whole Art of Husbandry; or, The Way of Managing and Improving of Land. […], London: […] J[ohn] H[umphreys] for H[enry] Mortlock […], and J[onathan] Robinson […], →OCLC

falter meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu

falter in Hindi

to falter
रुकना ruknā, अटकना aṭaknā

falter in Tamil

அலைபாய், இடறு, தடுமாறு, தயங்கு, பழுதடை

falter in Marathi

to falter or stumble
अडखळणे aḍkhaḷṇe

falter in Urdu

ہچکچانا, لڑکھڑانا, تردد کرنا
More languagesFewer languages
falter in Bengali
দ্বিধা করা, তোতলানো, হোঁচট খাওয়া, শক্তি হারানো
falter in Malayalam
പതറുക pataṟuka
falter in Kannada
ತೊದಲು, ಎಡವು, ತತ್ತರಿಸು, ತಡವರಿಸು

Examples of falter in a sentence

  • One faltering step means certain death.
  • But languish not to alter, Where to fantasticise would be to falter, To falter weakly, unachieving change.
  • Training, dedication, religious zeal, planning, even where purity might falter, would correct all that.

All 26 example sentences with falter

Synonyms of falter

Forms of falter

Noun
pluralfalters
alternative form (archaic)faulter
Verb
third-person singular presentfalters
present participlefaltering
past participlefaltered
pastfaltered

Past tense of falter: faltered

Plural of falter: falters

Origin of falter

From Middle English falteren (“to stagger; be unsteady, tremble, quiver; to stammer; be entangled, get caught”), further origin unknown. Probably from a North Germanic source such as Old Norse faltrask (“to hesitate, be puzzled, be encumbered”). May also be a frequentative of fold, although the change from d to t is unusual.

Words formed from falter

Words that rhyme with falter

Questions about falter

What does falter mean?
Falter means an unsteadiness.
What is falter in Hindi?
Falter in Hindi is रुकना (ruknā), अटकना (aṭaknā). See Falter meaning in Hindi.
What part of speech is falter?
Falter can be a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce falter?
Falter is pronounced /ˈfɒltə/ (UK).
What is the plural of falter?
The plural of falter is falters.

Words near falter in the dictionary

  1. Falta
  2. faltboat
  3. faltboats
  4. faltche
  5. faltches
  6. falter
  7. faltered
  8. falterer
  9. falterers
  10. falterest
  11. faltereth

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: falter (page history and authors); अटकना (Hindi) (page history and authors); falter (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); अडखळणे (Marathi) (page history and authors); falter (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); Falter (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പതറുക (Malayalam) (page history and authors); falter (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-falter.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-falter.wav.

Cite this entry: “falter.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/falter. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.