Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use stagger in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Stagger means an unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion. Example: “She began to stagger across the room.”

Examples of stagger by meaning

nounAn unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion.

  • the stagger of a drunken man

nounA disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling.

  • apoplectic or sleepy staggers

verbIn standing or walking, to sway from one side to the other as if about to fall; to stand or walk unsteadily; to reel or...

  • She began to stagger across the room.
  • The burnt and bleeding man staggered to his feet, dazed and unbelieving, and asked the startled townspeople who came running whether his fireman and guard were safe.2022 January 12, Benedict le Vay, “The heroes of Soham...”, in RAIL, number 948, page 43

verbTo cause to reel or totter.

  • The powerful blow of his opponent's fist staggered the boxer.

verbTo cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail.

  • The enemy staggers.

verbTo cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock.

  • He will stagger the committee when he presents his report.
  • Unless it is intended to divert much of the Southern suburban traffic underground, the size of the structure needed to handle all the Southern Railway suburban, outer suburban, and main-line traffic in one station staggers the imagination.1943 September and October, “Post-War London Terminals”, in Railway Magazine, page 257

verbTo arrange similar objects such that each is ahead or above and to one side of the next.

  • We will stagger the starting positions for the race on the oval track.

verbTo schedule in intervals or at different times.

  • We will stagger the run so the faster runners can go first, then the joggers.
  • The evening peak (5.30-5.45) is more concentrated than the morning (9–9.15), but it had not been intensified in the 12 months to last November; this is attributed by London Transport partly to efforts to persuade firms to stagger their hours.1962 September, “Talking of Trains: More commuters by rail”, in Modern Railways, page 154
  • Well, actually, they stagger our exits, so 5:15.2022 February 18, Dan Erickson, “Good News About Hell”, in Severance, season 1, episode 1, spoken by Mark S. (Adam Scott)

More sentences with stagger

  • The heavyweight delivered a few powerful hooks that staggered his opponent.From the entry hook
  • He staggered away from the accident site, supported by one friend on each side.From the entry support
  • The drunk staggered to the end of the bar before he collapsed.From the entry staggered
  • Jeff staggered reelingly out of the pub and tried to remember which way was home.From the entry reelingly
  • His awkward stagger is due to his shamble legs.From the entry shamble
  • The U.S. Senate holds staggered elections, with only one third of the seats being filled every two years.From the entry staggered
  • They stagger with linked arms down the middle of the street.2018 February, Robert Draper, “They are Watching You—and Everything Else on the Planet: Technology and Our Increasing Demand for Security…. From the entry paw
  • She staggered through the reeds to the island ahead and flattened on the ground.2016, Colson Whitehead, The Underground Railroad, Fleet (2017), page 352. From the entry tuckered out
  • In the end, it was he who staggered from the scene of the fight.2012 June 29, Kevin Mitchell, “Roger Federer back from Wimbledon 2012 brink to beat Julien Benneteau”, in Alan Rusbridger, editor, The…. From the entry artful
  • Alone and gut-shot, Eddie staggers to a church, seeking sanctuary and salvation, but collapses on the steps.2011, Adam Shand, Big Shots: Inside Melbourne's Gangland Wars, →ISBN, page iii. From the entry gut-shot
  • He saw the shotgunner stagger into the lingering cloud of smoke.2007, Jory Sherman, The Savage Gun, Penguin, →ISBN. From the entry colt
  • A bluefaced shock troop leader staggered over to see what it might command.2005, William Vollmann, Europe Central, part 25. From the entry bluefaced
  • The Staggered option forces staggered dimensions, which are like stacked continuous dimensions.2005, Ralph Grabowski, Using AutoCAD 2005, Autodesk Press, →ISBN, page 583. From the entry dimensionable
  • Renowned curator Jacques Saunière staggered through the vaulted archway of the museum's Grand Gallery.2003, Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code, Doubleday, →ISBN, page 3. From the entry curator
  • The staggered effect of random building resulted in a crazyquilt of dead ends and narrow, jagged alleyways.2003, Loren W. Cooper, A Slow and Silent Stream, page 88. From the entry crazyquilt
  • Then, as quickly as was possible given our shared temulency, we staggered into the living room.2002, Grant Jarrett, More Towels: In Between the Notes, iUniverse, published 2002, →ISBN, page 65. From the entry temulency
  • At thirteen, at Punkatasset, even with hair of my own, I was staggered by my fellow nudists.1989 November, David Michaelis, “In the Noodle”, in Boy, Girl, Boy, Girl (Bantam New Fiction), New York, N.Y.: Bantam Books, →ISBN, part 1…. From the entry humongousness
  • Mrs Adcock will invariably force you to take two, leaving you to stagger into the owlful night.1984, Punch, volume CCLXXXVI, number ii, page 67. From the entry owlful
  • She's all for not letting the sun go down without having started something calculated to stagger humanity.1960, P. G. Wodehouse, Jeeves in the Offing, chapter XII. From the entry espieglerie
  • Many of the wayside stations have staggered platforms, a common arrangement on the S.E.R.1957 August, H. P. White, “The Tonbridge-Hastings Line and its Traffic”, in Railway Magazine, page 529. From the entry wayside
  • He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss.1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring. From the entry fly
  • Men walking the streets suddenly staggered as if drunk, and extended their arms involuntarily, as rope-dancers do.1921, Philip Sanford Marden, chapter 8, in Sailing South, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, pages 106–107. From the entry funambulatory
  • He staggers up to the bar and points at the bear.1921 April 18, W[ilbur] C[oleman] Tuttle, “Between Pike’s Peak and a Pickle”, in Adventure, page 151. From the entry bearie
  • “Git down before I⸺” Mighty gets to his feet and staggers loose from the stirrups.1921 April 18, W[ilbur] C[oleman] Tuttle, “Between Pike’s Peak and a Pickle”, in Adventure, page 151. From the entry bearie
  • Loosen the brace wires and stagger wires on the wing-tip float.1919 July, M. E. Williams et al., “Seaplane No. 3, Seaplane No. 4 (Boat Type)”, in United States Navy Aviation Mechanics’ Training System…. From the entry strut
  • And Thane nodded and staggered blindly upward, only to sag again in a heap upon the veldt.1912, F[rancis] Bancroft, chapter III, in The Veldt Dwellers, 3rd edition, London: Hutchinson & Co. […], →OCLC, book IV, page 296. From the entry veldt
  • McInnis staggered back and to his feet, the chair flying aside, as a gout of blood spurted from the open wound.2024 September 28, HarryBlank, “Not Ready for Prime Time”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 29 Sep 2024. From the entry gout
  • She staggered forwards, leaning into the wind to make progress.2020 August 18, Adrian Tchaikovsky, The Doors of Eden, Orbit, →ISBN. From the entry skirl

Meaning of stagger

  1. noun An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion.
  2. noun A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling.
  3. noun Bewilderment; perplexity.

Full definition of stagger

Questions about stagger in a sentence

How do you use stagger in a sentence?
Stagger is used as a noun and verb. For example: “She began to stagger across the room.”
What is a short sentence with stagger?
“The enemy staggers.”
What does stagger mean?
Stagger means an unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stagger (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this page: “How to use stagger in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/stagger. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.