tottered; tottering; totters
2
a
: to tremble or rock as if about to fall : sway
b
: to become unstable : threaten to collapse
Examples of totter in a Sentence
Verb
The child tottered across the room.
He tottered away to bed.
Recent Examples on the Web
Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
The suspect, age 34, tottered out from a rear holding area in an orange DOC jumpsuit that was a size or two too large for his reed-thin frame.
—Graham Rayman, New York Daily News, 12 Feb. 2025
Preston Cooper, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2025
His son struggles to keep the Vegas’ gym, in Los Angeles, afloat amid the pandemic; his grandson, who is gay, totters between academic ambition and self-exploitation.
—The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for totter
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Verb
If the bottom falls out of, say, the Chinese real-estate market—among the largest asset classes in the world—the entire global economy could totter.
—Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 24 Feb. 2025
The suspect, age 34, tottered out from a rear holding area in an orange DOC jumpsuit that was a size or two too large for his reed-thin frame.
—Graham Rayman, New York Daily News, 12 Feb. 2025
Noun
Now, courts are starting to look into the mess and pulling out some of the Jenga blocks on which the system totters.
—Preston Cooper, Forbes, 21 Feb. 2025
His son struggles to keep the Vegas’ gym, in Los Angeles, afloat amid the pandemic; his grandson, who is gay, totters between academic ambition and self-exploitation.
—The New Yorker, 23 Sep. 2024
See All Example Sentences for totter
Cite this Entry
“Totter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/totter. Accessed 9 Mar. 2025.
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