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staggering

[stag-uh-ring]

Example Sentences Origin

adjective

tending to stagger or overwhelm: a staggering amount of money required in the initial investment.

Origin:
1555–65; stagger + -ing²

Related forms

stag·ger·ing·ly, adverb

un·stag·ger·ing, adjective

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Staggering is always a great word to know.

So is zedonk. Does it mean:

a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.

the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.

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Example Sentences

It is a staggering scene, seeming to belong in a time in which slaves built monumental works for pharaohs and kings.

We see staggering corruption everywhere, with lots of talk and absolutely zero accountability for the perpetrators.

The improvement in emerging-markets' reputation has been staggering.

EXPAND

It is a staggering scene, seeming to belong in a time in which slaves built monumental works for pharaohs and kings.

We see staggering corruption everywhere, with lots of talk and absolutely zero accountability for the perpetrators.

The improvement in emerging-markets' reputation has been staggering.

Moose are at home in the water and, despite their staggering bulk, are good swimmers.

Every story of autoimmune disease is sad--but collectively the impact of these illnesses is staggering.

Amused onlookers howl as it maneuvers around other balls, staggering and dropping within inches of the gray plume.

Money spent on research and development at pharmaceutical companies has increased at a staggering rate.

And it shows teenagers staggering under the two-ton weight of expectations- their parents' as well as their own.

The pace of development since peace returned eight years ago has been staggering.

Hurricanes are enormous heat engines that generate energy on a staggering scale.

Think about the staggering rate of technological advancement since they were originally engineered/designed.

Along those staggering distances lay a wealth of cultures and traditions.

Sheer breadth of modes, features and options is almost too staggering for a normal person to learn in a reasonable amount of time.

There was nothing particularly new, but it was staggering to see it all brought together.

Every household produces personal waste every day that adds up to a staggering amount of garbage each year.

Not once do you try to account for the staggering costs of what it will and does cost humanity to do nothing.

The donkey stood squarely under this staggering load.

His calculations, if accurate, have revealed some staggering statistics.

Customers left the hall staggering under the weight of their purchases.

Though they spread over less than one percent of the seafloor coral reefs support a staggering one-fourth of all marine species.

It is a staggering number that people do not realize because they only think of flying when they are on an airplane.

Potatoes planted last year have suddenly reappeared this year, with some staggering results.

Large gatherings of flamingos require staggering amounts of spirulina.

However, your naivete and lack of understanding of the fossil fuel industry and business in general is staggering.

Because, even if the author is simplifying here, human life does come at a staggering cost to many other life forms.

Suspects must be capable of killing with staggering swiftness both on land and in the seas.

The amount of contemporary, win-at-any-cost, social engineering going on is staggering.

Katrina's economic costs are unknown for now but are sure to be staggering.

The sheer amount of scientific ignorance shown by some of the comments left here is staggering.

The transition that a village makes when a cruise ship comes is staggering.

Thus, a colony's foragers cover a staggering amount of territory.

Fears about the crab's ability to colonize new areas are underlined by the staggering distances it can travel inland.

The biggest problem with the world today is the staggering amount of ignorant people.

But the staggering views alone are worth driving two days for.

Unless he is hoping to get subsidies from a bankrupt government staggering toward economic collapse.

Another reason for secrecy is the truffle's staggering price.

The variety of cell biology out there is staggering.

Yeah i saw it the other night when staggering home from the bar.

Whatever the scenario, the result was staggering extinctions.

If true, the extent of the collaboration is staggering.

The evolutionary imperative of finding a suitable mate has produced a staggering array.

Now almost seven years old, their cost to consumers has been staggering and the benefit to.

The vast frozen seas are melting away at a staggering rate.

Ishmael is a singer, songwriter, producer and performer who packs a musical talent of staggering proportions.

One thing that makes the answers so elusive is the staggering complexity of what the brain does.

True, phones now come in a staggering variety of shapes, like.

Today that figure is one in four, a staggering cultural transformation.

The banks are already staggering under the weight of bad debts.

Jupiter's magnetic field is a radiation hot zone of staggering intensity.

But it turned out that they were finely balanced indeed, and so we've begun to see this really quite staggering changes.

If those statistics aren't staggering enough, here are a few more comparisons to help put things in perspective.

He spent staggering amounts of money to get back even more staggering amounts.

Almost everyone in our profession is familiar with the pattern that leads to that staggering late-stage attrition rate.

It is unlikely that growth rates will again reach the staggering levels of recent years.

And they say it would deal a staggering blow to a local industry that already has suffered severe setbacks.

And in the public mind, their staggering compensation tends to overshadow pretty much everything else.

The holes that have been blown through pension funds by the financial crisis are staggering.

Past credit decisions have resulted in staggering losses.

It has led to a staggering rate of hemolytic uremic syndrome, a sometimes-fatal complication linked to kidney failure.

It is absolutely staggering that wikipedia is heralded as anything but a tool for controlling an ignorant populace.

They are precious for their own sake, because they are home to staggering numbers of species both known and unknown.

Inevitably, this has led to unemployment on a staggering scale.

When these enhancements were put to the test the improvement in performance was staggering.

Within these categories there is a staggering array of variations, many of which have yet to be studied.

The airborne trio witnessed staggering numbers of white-eared kob, a type of antelope, streaming below their plane.

They were feline-ancient cats that had been mummified and buried in pits in staggering numbers.

It's staggering for me to comprehend an entire life spent in this one place.

Within five years, they found deposits that were staggering.

The chemicals and energy use alone would be staggering.

In short, the impact and uses of mobile technology in the developing world is nothing short of staggering.

Very true the advancements in contact lense technology in our life time is staggering.

COLLAPSE

Dictionary.com Unabridged

verb (used without object)

to walk, move, or stand unsteadily.

to falter or begin to give way, as in an argument or fight.

to waver or begin to doubt, as in purpose or opinion; hesitate: After staggering momentarily, he recognized that he had to make a decision.

verb (used with object)

to cause to reel, totter, or become unsteady: This load would stagger an elephant.

to shock; render helpless with amazement or the like; astonish: The vastness of outer space staggers the mind.

to cause to waver or falter: The news staggered her belief in the triumph of justice.

to arrange in a zigzag order or manner on either side of a center: The captain staggered the troops along the road.

to arrange otherwise than at the same time, especially in a series of alternating or continually overlapping intervals: They planned to stagger lunch hours so that the cafeteria would not be rushed.

EXPAND

Aeronautics. to arrange (the wings of a biplane or the like) so that the entering edge of an upper wing is either in advance of or behind that of a corresponding lower wing.

COLLAPSE

noun

10.

the act of staggering; a reeling or tottering movement or motion.

11.

a staggered order or arrangement.

12.

Aeronautics.

a staggered arrangement of wings.

the amount of staggering.

13.

staggers. (used with a singular verb) Veterinary Pathology.

Also called blind staggers. acute selenium poisoning of livestock characterized by a staggering gait usually followed by respiratory failure and death.

a condition of unknown cause, occurring in pregnant sheep, cattle, and other animals during or just following extended transport, characterized by a staggering gait and progressive paralysis.

Origin:
1520–30; earlier stacker to reel, Middle English stakeren < Old Norse stakra to reel, equivalent to stak(a) to stagger + -ra frequentative suffix

Related forms

stag·ger·er, noun

out·stag·ger, verb (used with object)

un·stag·gered, adjective

Synonyms
1. Stagger, reel, totter suggest an unsteady manner of walking. To stagger is successively to lose and regain one's equilibrium and the ability to maintain one's direction: to stagger with exhaustion, a heavy load, or intoxication. To reel is to sway dizzily and be in imminent danger of falling: to reel when faint with hunger. To totter is to move in a shaky, uncertain, faltering manner and suggests the immediate likelihood of falling from weakness or feebleness: An old man tottered along with a cane. 3. vacillate. 5. astound, confound, dumfound. 7. alternate.

Link To staggering

Collins

World English Dictionary

staggering (ˈstæɡərɪŋ)

—*adj*
	astounding or overwhelming; shocking: a staggering increase in demand

staggeringly

—*adv*

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source

Etymonline

Word Origin & History

stagger

1530, altered from stakeren (c.1300), from O.N. stakra or O.Dan. stagra, both "to push, stagger." Cognate with Du. staggelen "to stagger," Ger. staggeln "to stammer." Trans. sense of "bewilder, amaze" first recorded 1556; that of "arrange in a zig-zag pattern" is from 1856. Staggering "amazing" is attested

EXPAND

from 1565.

COLLAPSE

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Matching Quote

"Myself now and myself a while ago are indeed two; but when better, I simply cannot say. It would be fine to be old if we traveled only toward improvement. It is a drunkard's motion, staggering, dizzy, wobbling, or that of reeds that the wind stirs haphazardly as it pleases."

-Michel de Montaigne

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