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Reel vs Stumble - What's the difference?

reel | stumble |

As nouns the difference between reel and stumble

is that reel is real (reality) while stumble is a fall, trip or substantial misstep.

As an adjective reel

is real (true, fact, not fictional).

As a verb stumble is

to trip or fall; to walk clumsily.

reel

English

(wikipedia reel)

Noun

(en noun)
  • A lively dance of the Highlanders of Scotland; also, the music to the dance; -- often called Scotch reel.
  • A frame with radial arms, or a kind of spool, turning on an axis, on which yarn, threads, lines, or the like, are wound
  • a log reel , used by seamen
    an angler's reel
    a garden reel
  • A machine on which yarn is wound and measured into lays and hanks, -- for cotton or linen it is fifty-four inches in circuit; for worsted, thirty inches.
  • (McElrath)
  • A device consisting of radial arms with horizontal stats, connected with a harvesting machine, for holding the stalks of grain in position to be cut by the knives.
  • A short compilation of sample film work used as a demonstrative resume in the entertainment industry.
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • To wind on a reel.
  • To spin or revolve repeatedly.
  • To unwind, to bring or acquire something by spinning or winding something else.
  • He reeled off some tape from the roll and sealed the package.
  • To walk shakily or unsteadily; to stagger; move as if drunk or not in control of oneself.
  • * {{quote-book, year=1907, author=
  • , title=The Dust of Conflict , chapter=30 citation , passage=It was by his order the shattered leading company flung itself into the houses when the Sin Verguenza were met by an enfilading volley as they reeled into the calle.}}
  • * Bible, Psalms cvii. 27
  • They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man.
  • * Alexander Pope
  • He, with heavy fumes oppressed, / Reeled from the palace, and retired to rest.
  • * Macaulay
  • the wagons reeling under the yellow sheaves
  • (reel back) To back off or step away unsteadily and quickly.
  • He reeled back from the punch.
  • To make or cause to reel.
  • To have a whirling sensation; to be giddy.
  • * Nathaniel Hawthorne
  • In these lengthened vigils his brain often reeled .
  • To be in shock.
  • * 2012 October 31, David M. Halbfinger, "[http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/01/nyregion/new-jersey-continues-to-cope-with-hurricane-sandy.html?hp]," New York Times (retrieved 31 October 2012):
  • New Jersey was reeling on Wednesday from the impact of Hurricane Sandy, which has caused catastrophic flooding here in Hoboken and in other New York City suburbs, destroyed entire neighborhoods across the state and wiped out iconic boardwalks in shore towns that had enchanted generations of vacationgoers.
  • (obsolete) To roll.
  • * Spenser
  • And Sisyphus an huge round stone did reel .

    Quotations

    ; to stagger * 1996 , , Virago Press, paperback edition, page 111 *: Sarah reels a little, nevertheless, under the dog's boisterous greeting.

    Derived terms

    * reel in * reel off

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    stumble

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fall, trip or substantial misstep.
  • An error or blunder.
  • A clumsy walk.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-08, volume=407, issue=8839, page=52, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= The new masters and commanders , passage=From the ground, Colombo’s port does not look like much. Those entering it are greeted by wire fences, walls dating back to colonial times and security posts. For mariners leaving the port after lonely nights on the high seas, the delights of the B52 Night Club and Stallion Pub lie a stumble away.}}

    Synonyms

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

    Verb

    (stumbl)
  • To trip or fall; to walk clumsily.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • He stumbled up the dark avenue.
  • *
  • , title= Mr. Pratt's Patients, chapter=1 , passage=I stumbled along through the young pines and huckleberry bushes. Pretty soon I struck into a sort of path that, I cal'lated, might lead to the road I was hunting for.}}
  • To make a mistake or have trouble.
  • To cause to stumble or trip.
  • (figurative) To mislead; to confound; to cause to err or to fall.
  • * Milton
  • False and dazzling fires to stumble men.
  • * John Locke
  • One thing more stumbles me in the very foundation of this hypothesis.
  • To strike or happen (upon a person or thing) without design; to fall or light by chance; with on'', ''upon'', or ''against .
  • * Dryden
  • Ovid stumbled , by some inadvertency, upon Livia in a bath.
  • * C. Smart
  • Forth as she waddled in the brake, / A grey goose stumbled on a snake.

    Derived terms

    * * * *

    See also

    *

    Anagrams

    *