stumble
- 01 B2 Upper Intermediate
to hit your foot against something while walking and almost fall.
to trip or momentarily lose one's balance while walking or running. Intransitive; often followed by 'on' or 'over'.
Simple“I stumbled on a loose rock and nearly fell down the hill.”
In context“The hiker stumbled over a hidden root in the undergrowth, narrowly avoiding a serious injury on the steep descent.”
UsageOften used with 'on' or 'over' to indicate the obstacle.
- 02 B2 Upper Intermediate
to find something or meet someone by chance.
to encounter or discover something unexpectedly. Always takes 'upon' or 'across'.
Simple“We stumbled across a lovely little café while exploring the back streets.”
In context“While researching the local history, the archivist stumbled upon a series of letters that changed the town's understanding of the war.”
UsageRequires the preposition 'across' or 'upon'.
Usage stumbled upon
“Vulcan has stumbled due to ongoing problems with the performance of its solid rocket boosters, which are provided by Northrop Grumman.”
“Labourers were laying drainage pipes when they stumbled across the gold.” Kobe and his colleagues called the police and notified CAW as soon as they came across the gold hoard.”
Ultimately from Proto-Germanic *stam- (“to trip up; to stammer, stutter”), thereby related to German stumm (“mute”), Dutch stom (“dumb”). Doublet of stammer. Also related to verb in Dutch stommelen (“to walk silently”).
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.