tottering

[tot-er-ing] /ˈtɒt ər ɪŋ/
adjective
1.
walking unsteadily or shakily.
2.
lacking security or stability; threatening to collapse; precarious:
a tottering empire.
Origin
totter + -ing2
Related forms
totteringly, adverb
untottering, adjective

totter

[tot-er] /ˈtɒt ər/
verb (used without object)
1.
to walk or go with faltering steps, as if from extreme weakness.
2.
to sway or rock on the base or ground, as if about to fall:
The tower seemed to totter in the wind. The government was tottering.
3.
to shake or tremble:
a load that tottered.
noun
4.
the act of tottering; an unsteady movement or gait.
Origin
1150-1200; Middle English toteren to swing < ?
Related forms
totterer, noun
Synonyms
1. See stagger. 2. waver. 3. oscillate, quiver.
Examples from the web for tottering
  • Each step is a tottering nightmare of minimal increments.
  • The result is a domino effect: prices fall, driving other tottering operators into bankruptcy.
  • The elephant screamed and thrashed the bushes with his trunk, tottering on three legs.
  • Busing is dead as social policy, and affirmative action is tottering.
  • Chimneys began to fall and buildings to crack, tottering on their foundations.
  • Bailey uses the painting to knit the artist's life into stories of the tottering empire whose king he served.
  • He mimed some woozy tottering and a convulsive hurl.
  • Remains the last superpower tottering on shaky feet.
British Dictionary definitions for tottering

totter

/ˈtɒtə/
verb (intransitive)
1.
to walk or move in an unsteady manner, as from old age
2.
to sway or shake as if about to fall
3.
to be failing, unstable, or precarious
noun
4.
the act or an instance of tottering
Derived Forms
totterer, noun
tottering, adjective
totteringly, adverb
tottery, adjective
Word Origin
C12: perhaps from Old English tealtrian to waver, and Middle Dutch touteren to stagger
Word Origin and History for tottering

totter

v.

c.1200, "swing to and fro," perhaps from a Scandinavian source (cf. dialectal Norwegian totra "to quiver, shake"). Meaning "stand or walk with shaky, unsteady steps" is from c.1600. Related: Tottered; tottering.