1
as in to lurch
to move forward while swaying from side to side
I was so tired last night that I just staggered upstairs to bed without eating dinner
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2
as in to falter
to show uncertainty about the right course of action
a daunting problem that would make even the most decisive person stagger just a bit
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Examples of stagger in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Roosevelt staggered a bit and then fell into a seat beneath him while his stenographer leaped out of a car and wrestled Schrank to the ground to prevent him from firing again, according to the article.
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Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 16 July 2024
Israel has agreed to staggered pauses in fighting while the vaccination campaign is rolled out, and Hamas has also agreed to cooperate.
—Aya Batrawy, NPR, 31 Aug. 2024
Its payment to the companies involved will be staggered, with roughly half of the stock in the deal — more than 2 million shares — delivered only when the streaming software is implemented at greater and greater scales.
—Justin Elliott, ProPublica, 30 July 2024
The board consists of 12 members with four directors in each class and will begin the process of phasing out the staggered board in 2025, to be fully de-staggered by 2028.
—Kenneth Squire, CNBC, 27 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for stagger 
Jonathan Edwards, Washington Post, 16 July 2024
Israel has agreed to staggered pauses in fighting while the vaccination campaign is rolled out, and Hamas has also agreed to cooperate.
—Aya Batrawy, NPR, 31 Aug. 2024
Its payment to the companies involved will be staggered, with roughly half of the stock in the deal — more than 2 million shares — delivered only when the streaming software is implemented at greater and greater scales.
—Justin Elliott, ProPublica, 30 July 2024
The board consists of 12 members with four directors in each class and will begin the process of phasing out the staggered board in 2025, to be fully de-staggered by 2028.
—Kenneth Squire, CNBC, 27 July 2024
See all Example Sentences for stagger
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stagger.' 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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“Stagger.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/stagger. Accessed 29 Sep. 2024.
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