falters

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
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
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
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...

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