verb
COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES
slip/stumble/trip etc and fall
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He slipped and fell on the ice.
stumbling block
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The main stumbling block to starting new research is that we lack qualified people.
COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS
■ ADVERB
across
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I stumbled across one shack, but was lucky this farmer was easy going.
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You might stumble across a phrase or image that seems possible, but as a whole this faux scrapbook reeks.
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And in the process we stumbled across a great idea, an entirely new security.
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They sleep during the day, so if you stumble across one and startle it awake, they can be dangerous.
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Kent stumbled across the map stop 17 years ago when he came to San Diego from Florida.
along
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They had been stumbling along for some time, trying to be as quiet as possible.
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Yet somehow we stumbled along and became better friends.
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As she stumbled along the path, she began to sob.
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Two men stumbled along ahead of the wheels treading out a safe path across the seething grass.
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Every now and again some of it fell off, sometimes on to the lane, often on to the nomes stumbling along it.
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On the way to the camp, we passed Sabira Radic, 31, stumbling along the road.
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You were stumbling along , following the tracks of a tank.
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He ran stumbling along the road, which gave out after a few hundred yards.
around
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I stumbled around a while then finally located the car.
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But who could have anticipated the stumbling around , the tenuous grip on reality?
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Rather than stumbling around like a drunken man.
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He had stumbled around in her basement under a 25-watt bulb, plowing through marked boxes.
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Out of the blazing wreck he leaped, stumbling around on fire from head to toe and screaming.
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As he stumbled around the far side of the breakwater, the hard sand was replaced by thick mud.
away
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He stumbled away in the direction of his own idea; they followed.
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Everyone stumbled away , Dove and the onlookers.
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They staggered and stumbled away with him.
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Sir Alexander Seton stumbled away , a stricken man.
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And I felt worse, as I stumbled away , remembering Gharr's laughter when I'd struck him.
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She stumbled away , broken and on the verge of despair.
back
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He then stumbles back on to the shore and collapses to a sitting position.
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He cried out in pain and stumbled back against the wall.
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The entire frame shuddered, and Cardiff stumbled back .
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Mobuto recoiled in horror, stumbling back painfully into the Studebaker's wing mirror.
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He was stronger than he looked and I stumbled back into his partner.
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She came stumbling back into the dining car followed by a commotion of people yelling behind her.
backwards
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She stumbled backwards and I darted out of the way as she fell over.
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The old man wobbled and stumbled backwards , wagging his head as if he were trying to shake something out of it.
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A cook from the kitchens took one in the eye and stumbled backwards with his hands pressed to his temples.
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Yukio's face erupting before her, stumbling backwards , a pressure on her elbow.
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The grass blades tore, but their initial resistance sent him stumbling backwards .
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In panic she stumbled backwards , twisted round and tried to run into the living room.
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He stumbled backwards and struck a bed screen that crashed to the floor, bringing him with it.
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As Seawitch rolled heavily Polly's foot slipped on the wet deck and she stumbled backwards , pulling Nathan with her.
down
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He took his hand away, but as she stumbled down the ladder she could still feel its warm weight.
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We ignore the down-at-heel and dissolute as we heartlessly window-shop the boulevards they stumble down .
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She reached the stairs, and stumbled down them.
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Drunk with fatigue, l stumbled down from the gallery and asked Rafal how much I owed.
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He left his rifle on the bank and stumbled down into the water.
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She stumbled down the gangway to the hatch.
forward
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She stumbled forward , her legs leaden, afraid to let her eyes sweep the room, afraid not to.
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He stumbled forward , and tripped, and fell.
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He felt as if he weren't so much walking now as stumbling forward under the weight of that thought.
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He was stumbling forward before he knew it, hardly aware of the leaf-mould beneath his feet, hushing his footsteps.
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Danjit stumbled forward so that for a moment she felt his lubricious body-thrust.
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He stumbled forward so as not to fall.
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Lewis bided his time in the second round, but his opportunity came when Grant stumbled forward after a clumsy lunge.
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The jumpers stumble forward as they hit, grinning and laughing.
in
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They had stumbled in upon what was quite clearly nothing less than a pagan sacrifice.
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The old man stumbled in , flapping his stump toward the outside.
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As we stumble in , Mad Richard from Verve is inadvertently pulling down chunks of the ceiling.
off
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I stumbled off to be sick behind an armoured personnel carrier as he started on Marius.
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I stumbled off to polite applause.
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Midway through the fourth song, Yorick gave up and stumbled off the stage.
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Derek stumbled off into the nearest clump of vegetation and disturbed three petrified rabbits.
on
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She stumbled on to the parched grass, taking in her surroundings.
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At that the discussion again broke down, but somehow they stumbled on to plans for a dance and a party.
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I feel only that we have taken a wrong direction somewhere, and are blindly stumbling on because our leaders blindfold us.
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Other weight-loss drugs are things people stumbled on by accident.
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Something we haven't stumbled on yet?
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All there was left to do was to stumble on , dutifully following the tracks on the ground as they appeared.
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They stumbled on , half unconscious with fatigue.
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Absorbed in his thoughts, he stumbled on .
out
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Michael was after me, stumbling out on to the launch platform half-dressed and babbling about two-month training courses.
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One night, he stumbled out of his house in the Los Gatos hills, wandering aimlessly.
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I stumbled out and the ground seemed to tilt.
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I stumbled out of town with barely enough strength to reach the city limits.
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I stumbled out that I couldn't live with Richard any longer.
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She stumbled out of bed and went to the kitchen.
over
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I stumbled over him when he was visiting Ted Yaxlee.
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A further accident - stumbling over a coffer of government funds in his care - fatally scatters temptation before him.
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Or the actor who stumbles over his words for the second time at a rehearsal.
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The khthon stumbled over the response.
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And here Kames neatly clears up a matter which earlier critics had stumbled over .
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He stumbled over graves and bumped into headstones - but he didn't stop.
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It has been greatly influenced by the tangled confusion into which the Anglican Communion has stumbled over the ordination of women.
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Time after time I stumbled over some hummock of tough grass, and once I went into a creek up to my shoulders.
upon
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And that was when Kegl realized what she had stumbled upon .
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And one day I stumbled upon a book that changed my young life: The Great Mouthpiece.
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In my own rambles around vents I have stumbled upon and helped describe a few of the new species.
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What is this strange, varied and most wonderfully intricate land that we have stumbled upon ?
■ NOUN
fall
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She let him stumble and fall to his knees.
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Horrified passengers saw Olive stumble and fall off a platform as an express roared in.
foot
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She stumbled to her feet , clutching the eiderdown around her, and opened her mouth to call to them.
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She stumbled to her feet , wiping her hands uselessly on her tattered dress before holding them out.
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She stumbled to her feet , crossed the dark room and switched on the light.
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The horses pulling the train came to a halt and Eline stumbled to her feet .
path
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Richier's figures blindly stumble on their confused paths .
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Major stumbling blocks on the path to self-knowledge are denial and blame.
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As she stumbled along the path , she began to sob.
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Stan Gordon felt the same before he stumbled on to a path out of the debt-ridden abyss.
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The sky was already beginning to darken as she stumbled along the path .
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I don't want anyone with personal feelings stumbling across my path .
way
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Fleischmann and Pons believed that they had stumbled on another way - intense pressures provided by the natural make-up of solid palladium.
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Not only did he drink in private, now he stumbled his way home for all the world to see.
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For two days, police in the remote coastal region around Sodwana Bay had stumbled and fumbled their way into the case.
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We stumbled our way through the cemetery, not saying anything to each other.
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It emerged as the most successful of the dozen experiments, largely because it stumbled on a different way of doing business.
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We might stumble on the way and wonder whether it is worth all the effort.
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The bottom line: The parties have stumbled a short way forward, but the journey is far from over.
word
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Or the actor who stumbles over his words for the second time at a rehearsal.
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But forgive him if his voice cracks or he stumbles over a word .
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They stumble over simple words or figures.
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He stumbled over his words as he read his speech from a Teleprompter.
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES
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I finished the whiskey, then stumbled upstairs and into bed.
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In her hurry, Eva stumbled and dropped the tray she was carrying.
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Mason headed towards the house, stumbling on the rough ground.
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One runner stumbled, but was able to regain her balance.
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The room was dark, and Stan nearly fell over a chair as he stumbled to the phone.
EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS
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As she stumbled along the path, she began to sob.
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As they stumbled lower one sound rose up to meet them.
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He stumbled over the upturned pot but scrambled back to his feet.
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She stumbled backward, out of range, but he stepped toward her and raised his stick again.
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She begun to run, stumbling.
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They stumble over simple words or figures.