Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use stumble in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, verb

Stumble means a fall, trip or substantial misstep. Example: “He stumbled over a rock.”

Examples of stumble by meaning

nounAn error or blunder.

  • Carrados was considering it from his own way round for he did not appear to notice anything in her stumble.1934, Ernest Bramah, The Bravo of London
  • She owns up to early stumbles, such as bottles being mislabeled.2022 July 21, Emily Hell, “TikTok’s Pink Sauce chef defends her viral condiment”, in Washington Post

nounA clumsy walk.

  • For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.2013 June 8, “The new masters and commanders”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8839, page 52

verbTo misstep; to walk or run clumsily; to trip or fall.

  • He stumbled over a rock.
  • Last night, you drunkenly stumbled to the front door, waking up the whole house.
  • I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes.1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter I, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC

verbTo make mistakes, to have trouble.

  • I always stumble over verbs in Spanish.

verbTo cause to stumble or trip.

  • Slowly, I turned around and the shock of it stumbled me back a few steps.2017, Jacqueline Druga, Sleepers, page 39

verbTo make a discovery unexpectedly or accidentally; to chance, come, or happen (upon a person or thing) (with onto...

  • We stumbled onto the answer without even trying.

More sentences with stumble

  • After a split second of hesitation, the second baseman leaped for the ball—or, rather, stumbled for it.From the entry for
  • I did feel a complete fool after stumbling on the same rock again.From the entry feel
  • After stumbling and landing on her face, the toddler picked herself up and continued unfazed.From the entry unfazed
  • Idioms are a common stumbling block for learners of a language.From the entry stumbling block
  • The team stumbled off the field in a stupor of exhaustion.From the entry stupor
  • I stumbled blindly through the forest, branches whipping at my face.From the entry blindly
  • The old man stumbled, as if he were about to fall.From the entry as if
  • Despite a stumble, he managed to come fourth in the hurdles.From the entry hurdles
  • That team will probably stumble against their first-round opponents in the tournament.From the entry stumble against
  • They stumbled alcoholically upstairs and into bed.From the entry alcoholically
  • I stumbled across the exit by chance.From the entry by chance
  • He stumbled embarrassingly about the dance floor.From the entry embarrassingly
  • The drunk stumbled trippingly down the street.From the entry trippingly
  • She stumbled downstairs and yawningly prepared breakfast.From the entry yawningly
  • Jeff stumbled weavingly down the street, stinking of alcohol.From the entry weavingly
  • He stumbled into a firefighting career in his early 20s.From the entry stumble into
  • They stumbled their way to the back of the room.From the entry one's way
  • He stumbled crashingly around the apartment.From the entry crashingly
  • Stumbling upon it in the wild always catches me so off guard haha.2025 July 10, @Mellow_Rabbit_, X, archived from the original on 23 Apr 2026. From the entry helianthophobia
  • Although he stumbled on for another month, that was the end for Hasenhuttl.2023 May 13, Jacob Tanswell, “Southampton’s Premier League relegation: Sackings, staff exits and divided dressing room”, in The Athletic…. From the entry stumble on
  • Leadership is definitely tough, but it really feels like we're just stumbling from debacle to debacle.2023 May 28, u/mbStavola, “JT: Why I left Rust”, in Reddit, r/rust, archived from the original on 12 Aug 2025. From the entry vaguepost
  • If I hadn't been, I'd never have stumbled across this fanfiction.2022 December 21, Eris Young, Ace Voices: What it Means to Be Asexual, Aromantic, Demi or Grey-Ace, Jessica Kingsley Publishers, →ISBN…. From the entry babyqueer
  • This magnificent picture really stopped me in my tracks when I stumbled across it.2021 December 1, Nigel Harris, “St Pancras and King's Cross: 1947”, in RAIL, number 945, page 36. From the entry inexorably
  • He stumbles on the steps and falls, clumsily enough to face-plant on a riser.2020, N. K. Jemisin, The City We Became, Orbit, page 195. From the entry face-plant
  • The bouncer stumbles back, as the other bouncer grabs Tank, in a bear-hug.2019 July 8, Demetrius Divine Carey, “Section 2”, in One Man's Money: A Novel, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 44. From the entry squirmish
  • President Trump's tax-reform rollout came stumbling out of the gate this week.2017 September 27, Daniel Gross, “Why Steve Mnuchin and Gary Cohn Are So Bad at Selling [Donald] Trump’s Tax Plan”, in Slate, New York…. From the entry fumfer
  • During the course of his looking into Abedin’s S.G.E. status, the senator stumbled upon an O.I.G.2016 January 31, “Is Huma Abedin Hillary Clinton’s Secret Weapon or Her Next Big Problem?”, in Vanity Fair, retrieved 21 Jan 2016. From the entry stumble upon
  • They all be looking for you, and I, who wanted only to run off, stumble across you.2016, Karen Cushman, Grayling's Song. From the entry oddsome
  • Jamie shoved the captain harder than necessary, and he stumbled and fell.2015, Tracy Groot, Maggie Bright. From the entry worshippy
  • When, exactly, Europeans first stumbled upon the bones of an American mastodon is unclear.2014, Elizabeth Kolbert, chapter 2, in The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History, Henry Holt and Company. From the entry mastodon
  • It was bad enough he had to hear me stumble through our phone call.2014, Jean Hovey, Stephanie Jones, Tidings of Love: 7 Holiday Romance Novellas, Crimson Romance, →ISBN. From the entry facetime

Meaning of stumble

  1. noun A fall, trip or substantial misstep.
  2. noun An error or blunder.
  3. noun A clumsy walk.

Full definition of stumble

Questions about stumble in a sentence

How do you use stumble in a sentence?
Stumble is used as a noun and verb. For example: “He stumbled over a rock.”
What is a short sentence with stumble?
“He stumbled over a rock.”
What does stumble mean?
Stumble means a fall, trip or substantial misstep.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: stumble (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 stumble in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/stumble. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.