totter
verb · noun
Simple meaning
To walk, move or stand unsteadily or falteringly.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
tahterSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈtɑtɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
To walk, move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall.
Move unsteadily, with a rocking motion
figurative
To be on the brink of collapse.
noun
An unsteady movement or gait.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: To walk, move or stand unsteadily or falteringly; threatening to fall.
Used this way, totter is a reasonably familiar word with a clearly unfavourable pull. It comes across as direct, sometimes bluntly so.
- Emotional tone
- Negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Gentle
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Serious and weighty
- Usage feel
- Blunt and forceful
Nearby words
- toddle , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use totter
- “The drunk man tottered over to our table.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A plaything consisting of a board balanced on a fulcrum.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.