tottered; tottering; totters
2
a
: to tremble or rock as if about to fall : sway
b
: to become unstable : threaten to collapse
Synonyms
Examples of totter in a Sentence
Verb
The child tottered across the room.
He tottered away to bed.
Recent Examples on the Web
Editorial Board, Washington Post, 17 June 2024
These include a chocolate-brown safe about five feet tall that reveals itself to be full of bobbleheads, the tottering rictus of Suns-era Stephon Marbury peering out at me from the dark.
—Giri Nathan, Vulture, 22 Mar. 2024
George Avalos, The Mercury News, 4 June 2024
Minilla defeats him by luring him to a monster-sized teeter totter and launching him into the air.
—Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Dec. 2023
See all Example Sentences for totter 
Verb
Gorbachev was desperate to ease the burden of the arms race on his tottering communist system, and Reagan had long harbored an ambition to abolish nuclear weapons altogether.
—Editorial Board, Washington Post, 17 June 2024
These include a chocolate-brown safe about five feet tall that reveals itself to be full of bobbleheads, the tottering rictus of Suns-era Stephon Marbury peering out at me from the dark.
—Giri Nathan, Vulture, 22 Mar. 2024
Noun
But the purchase also is a reminder that the Bay Area office market totters at the edge of an economic abyss of plunging values, faltering rents, rising foreclosures, sky-high interest rates, and tough financing markets.
—George Avalos, The Mercury News, 4 June 2024
Minilla defeats him by luring him to a monster-sized teeter totter and launching him into the air.
—Richard Newby, The Hollywood Reporter, 9 Dec. 2023
See all Example Sentences for totter
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'totter.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
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Cite this Entry
“Totter.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/totter. Accessed 2 Jul. 2024.
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