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falter - 7 dictionary results

fal⋅ter

  [fawl-ter]
Use falter in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to hesitate or waver in action, purpose, intent, etc.; give way: Her courage did not falter at the prospect of hardship.
2. to speak hesitatingly or brokenly.
3. to move unsteadily; stumble.
–verb (used with object)
4. to utter hesitatingly or brokenly: to falter an apology.
–noun
5. the act of faltering; an unsteadiness of gait, voice, action, etc.
6. a faltering sound.
Origin:
1300–50; ME falteren, of obscure orig.; perh. akin to ON faltrast to bother with, be troubled with

Related forms:
fal⋅ter⋅er, noun
fal⋅ter⋅ing⋅ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To falter
fal·ter   (fôl'tər)   
intr.v.   fal·tered, fal·ter·ing, fal·ters
  1. To be unsteady in purpose or action, as from loss of courage or confidence; waver. See Synonyms at hesitate.
  2. To speak hesitatingly; stammer.
    1. To move ineptly or haltingly; stumble.
    2. To operate or perform unsteadily or with a loss of effectiveness: The automobile engine faltered.
n.  
  1. Unsteadiness in speech or action.
  2. A faltering sound.

[Middle English falteren, to stagger, possibly from Old Norse faltrask, to be puzzled, hesitate.]
fal'ter·er n., fal'ter·ing·ly adv.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Falter

Fal"ter\, v. t. To thrash in the chaff; also, to cleanse or sift, as barley. [Prov. Eng.] --Halliwell.

Falter

Fal"ter\, v. i. [imp. & p. p. Faltered; p. pr. & vb. n. Faltering.] [OE. falteren, faltren, prob. from fault. See Fault, v. & n.]

1. To hesitate; to speak brokenly or weakly; to stammer; as, his tongue falters.

With faltering speech and visage incomposed. --Milton.

2. To tremble; to totter; to be unsteady. "He found his legs falter." --Wiseman.

3. To hesitate in purpose or action.

Ere her native king Shall falter under foul rebellion's arms. --Shak.

4. To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; -- said of the mind or of thought.

Here indeed the power of disinct conception of space and distance falters. --I. Taylor.

Falter

Fal"ter\, v. t. To utter with hesitation, or in a broken, trembling, or weak manner.

And here he faltered forth his last farewell. --Byron.

Mde me most happy, faltering "I am thine." --Tennyson.

Falter

Fal"ter\, n. [See Falter, v. i.] Hesitation; trembling; feebleness; an uncertain or broken sound; as, a slight falter in her voice.

The falter of an idle shepherd's pipe. --Lowell.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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Language Translation for : falter
Spanish: vacilar,
German: zögern,
Japanese: ためらう
More Translations »

falter 
c.1340, possibly from a Scand. source, or a frequentative of M.E. falden "to fold," infl. by fault.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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