How to Use stumble in a Sentence

stumble

1 of 2 verb
  • He stumbled over to the table.
  • The horse stumbled and almost fell.
  • I stumbled on the uneven pavement.
  • He stumbled drunkenly across the room.
  • I heard him stumble over the unfamiliar words.
  • The economy has stumbled in recent months.
  • She stumbled through an apology.
  • Some of you might stumble across a new job.
    — Georgia Nicols, Denver Post, 8 May 2026
  • There was a lot of stumbling with the lines.
    — Chris Murphy, Vanity Fair, 27 Mar. 2026
  • King stumbled just once, at the end.
    — Scott Feinberg, HollywoodReporter, 13 Mar. 2026
  • The man then tripped, stumbling to the ground.
    — Andrew Adeolu, CBS News, 7 Mar. 2026
  • Music, a jump, and a trip or stumble out.
    — Sally Jenkins, The Atlantic, 1 Feb. 2026
  • But could either one of them stumble along the way?
    — Richard Obert, AZCentral.com, 14 Feb. 2026
  • Some will stumble in the real world.
    — Eric Sullivan, Scientific American, 9 Jan. 2026
  • Bohm has stumbled to start this season.
    — Matt Gelb, New York Times, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Schultz stumbled out of the gate and was trying to catch the rest of the pack.
    — Jonathan Carone, Parents, 3 Mar. 2026
  • Adebayo stumbled but did not fall.
    — Steve Reed, Chicago Tribune, 15 Apr. 2026
  • Hase stumbled forward, sliced the ball with her left foot and closed her eyes.
    — Tamerra Griffin, New York Times, 3 Nov. 2025
  • But the Cubs have since stumbled with a 2-9 stretch.
    — Sahadev Sharma, New York Times, 22 May 2026
  • Siegfried stumbles up just in time and tells Tall Man to walk away.
    — Alice Burton, Vulture, 9 Feb. 2026
  • Siegfried stumbles up just in time and tells Tall Man to walk away.
    — Alice Burton, Vulture, 16 Feb. 2026
  • Seven years of stumbling around.
    — Literary Hub, 7 Nov. 2025
  • In the last decade, the Royals have stumbled out of the gates.
    — Jaylon Thompson, Kansas City Star, 26 Mar. 2026
  • The plan can still fail, and the networks have stumbled here before.
    — Zennon Kapron, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026
  • Lina cried out, stumbling backward.
    — Danielle Parker, CBS News, 14 Apr. 2026
  • Lina cried out, stumbling backward.
    — Danielle Parker, CBS News, 21 Apr. 2026
  • The guy is stumbling around in the half-dark, but is that reasonable?
    — Sophie Brookover, Vulture, 16 Oct. 2025
  • That’s where many redesigns stumble.
    — Goran Paun, Forbes.com, 3 Sep. 2025
  • Adebayo stumbled but did not fall when Ball grabbed his leg two years ago.
    — Anthony Chiang, Miami Herald, 16 Apr. 2026
  • Along the way, Cindy stumbled a bit and dropped her luggage in front of me.
    — Kansas City Star, 25 Feb. 2026

stumble

2 of 2 noun
  • That’s where this eight-episode show stumbles.
    — Alison Herman, Variety, 18 Sep. 2025
  • But even that stumble isn't reason enough not to see it.
    — Meredith G. White, AZCentral.com, 20 Aug. 2025
  • One missed stride, one stumble, would mean certain death.
    — Scott Haugen, Outdoor Life, 13 Aug. 2025
  • But when silver stumbles, those same stocks can fall even faster.
    — Angelica Leicht, CBS News, 17 Feb. 2026
  • What to say when things go wrong Have a go-to line ready in case of a stumble.
    — Lila MacLellan, Fortune, 17 Mar. 2023
  • Don’t let a little stumble keep you out of the end zone today.
    — Chris Branch, New York Times, 7 Oct. 2025
  • Elon Musk’s up-and-down year wrapped with one final stumble.
    — Daniel Wine, CNN Money, 5 Jan. 2026
  • The album is not without some small stumbles.
    — Juan J. Arroyo, Rolling Stone, 26 Sep. 2025
  • However, there were stumbles along the way.
    — Sarah Jones, PEOPLE, 30 Sep. 2025
  • The stumble couldn’t have come at a worse moment for the company.
    — Ian Bogost, The Atlantic, 12 June 2026
  • Some parents think that their role is to prevent every stumble—and who can blame them?
    — Janelle Jones, Parents, 28 Jan. 2026
  • That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles.
    — Ted Johnson, Deadline, 10 Sep. 2025
  • That's when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles.
    — Kate Plummer, MSNBC Newsweek, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Those early stumbles may have been a blessing in disguise.
    — Ashley Capoot, CNBC, 2 Sep. 2025
  • Some of the team's biggest stars saw dramatic stumbles.
    — Brittney Melton, NPR, 23 Feb. 2026
  • To the downside, any stumble in price may only be that — a stumble may not end the recent run.
    — Jay Woods, CNBC, 17 Sep. 2025
  • This particular late-game stumble may have hurt more, too, because of what was on the line.
    — Kevin Reynolds Reporter, San Diego Union-Tribune, 3 July 2021
  • Any stumble, though, and the door is open for shots at the program’s virality.
    — Los Angeles Times, 8 Jan. 2023
  • The longer Biden is out on the campaign trail, the greater the chance of a damaging stumble.
    — David Lauter, Los Angeles Times, 19 Apr. 2023
  • The live stumbles of Left Shark went viral and spawned jokes in record quickness.
    — Steven Louis Goldstein, New York Times, 30 Jan. 2026
  • The girl takes a tentative step forward, stumbles, and face-plants into the waves.
    — Dalton Ross, Entertainment Weekly, 16 Jan. 2026
  • But this stumble felt more personal, more damning.
    — Troy Renck, Denver Post, 21 Apr. 2026
  • But after all those early stumbles, the Gaels found their footing.
    — Jon Wilner, San Diego Union-Tribune, 31 Jan. 2024
  • But beneath the flash and stumble was something a little deeper.
    — Arkansas Online, 14 Aug. 2025
  • But this stumble feels different.
    — Jacob Camenker, USA Today, 12 Oct. 2025
  • That being said, the stats are in and the rich experienced a bit of a stumble from their great heights a year ago.
    — Chloe Berger, Fortune, 8 Sep. 2023
  • Those runs tend to start at a stumble, progress to easy to steady pace, and often finish with three to five miles at marathon pace or faster.
    — Scott Douglas, Outside, 12 Nov. 2025
  • But a stumble down the stretch would keep UC out of the dance for the second-straight season.
    — Keith Jenkins, The Enquirer, 9 Feb. 2022
  • But for most of the season’s first 2½ months, too many of these young Bruins’ steps have been stumbles.
    — Ben Bolch, Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan. 2024
  • All the ingredients for a stumble out of the gate against Stanford are present.
    — Dallas News, 15 Dec. 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stumble.' 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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