different between stumble vs topple

English

Etymology

From Proto-Germanic *stam- (“to trip up; to stammer, stutter”), thereby related to German stumm (“mute”), Dutch stom (“dumb”). Doublet of stammer.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?st?mb?l/
• Rhymes: -?mb?l

Noun

stumble (plural stumbles)

1. A fall, trip or substantial misstep.
2. An error or blunder.
3. A clumsy walk.

Synonyms

• (a blunder): blooper, blunder, boo-boo, defect, error, fault, faux pas, fluff, gaffe, lapse, mistake, slip, thinko
• See also Thesaurus:error

Translations

Verb

stumble (third-person singular simple present stumbles, present participle stumbling, simple past and past participle stumbled)

1. (intransitive) To trip or fall; to walk clumsily.

2. (intransitive) To make a mistake or have trouble.

3. (transitive) To cause to stumble or trip.
4. (transitive, figuratively) To mislead; to confound; to cause to err or to fall.
   • One thing more stumbles me in the very foundation of this hypothesis.

5. To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; with on, upon, or against.
   • 1680, John Dryden, Ovid's Epistles

     He [Ovid] had stumbled, by some inadvertency, upon the privacies of Livia […] in a bath.

   • 1754, Christopher Smart, Snake

     Forth as she waddled in the brake, / A grey goose stumbled on a snake.

Derived terms

• stumble across
• stumble against
• stumble on
• stumble upon

Translations

See also

• stumbling block

Further reading

• Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “stumble”, in Online Etymology Dictionary

Anagrams

• tumbles

English

Etymology

From top +? -le (frequentative verb suffix).

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?t?pl?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?t?pl?/
• Rhymes: -?p?l
• Hyphenation: top?ple

Verb

topple (third-person singular simple present topples, present participle toppling, simple past and past participle toppled)

1. (transitive) to push, throw over, overturn or overthrow something

   The massed crowds toppled the statue of the former dictator.

2. (intransitive) to totter and fall, or to lean as if about to do so

   The pile of pennies began to topple.

Translations

Anagrams

• loppet