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Wade vs Stagger - What's the difference?

wade | stagger |

In intransitive terms the difference between wade and stagger

is that wade is to enter recklessly while stagger is to begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate.

In transitive terms the difference between wade and stagger

is that wade is to walk through (water or similar impediment); to pass through by wading while stagger is multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly-spaced, times or places (attested from 1856).

As a proper noun Wade

is {{surname|topographic|from=Old English}.

wade

English

Etymology 1

From (etyl) wadan'', from (etyl) "to go". Cognates include Latin ''vadere "go, walk; rush" (whence English invade, evade).

Verb

(wad)
  • to walk through water or something that impedes progress.
  • * Milton
  • So eagerly the fiend / With head, hands, wings, or feet, pursues his way, / And swims, or sinks, or wades , or creeps, or flies.
  • * 1918 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), Chapter VIII
  • After breakfast the men set out to hunt, while the women went to a large pool of warm water covered with a green scum and filled with billions of tadpoles. They waded in to where the water was about a foot deep and lay down in the mud. They remained there from one to two hours and then returned to the cliff.
  • to progress with difficulty
  • to wade through a dull book
  • * Dryden
  • And wades through fumes, and gropes his way.
  • * Davenant
  • The king's admirable conduct has waded through all these difficulties.
  • to walk through (water or similar impediment); to pass through by wading
  • wading swamps and rivers
  • To enter recklessly.
  • to wade into a fight or a debate

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • an act of wading
  • Etymology 2

    Noun

    (-)
  • (Mortimer)
    (Webster 1913)

    Anagrams

    * * ----

    stagger

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • An unsteady movement of the body in walking or standing, as if one were about to fall; a reeling motion; vertigo; -- often in the plural; as, the stagger of a drunken man.
  • A disease of horses and other animals, attended by reeling, unsteady gait or sudden falling; as, parasitic staggers; apoplectic or sleepy staggers.
  • bewilderment; perplexity.
  • In motorsport, the difference in circumference between the left and right tires on a racing vehicle. It is used on oval tracks to make the car turn better in the corners. Stock Car Racing magazine article on stagger, February 2009
  • Verb

    (en verb)
  • sway unsteadily, reel, or totter
  • # In standing or walking, to sway from one side to the other as if about to fall; to stand or walk unsteadily; to reel or totter.
  • She began to stagger across the room.
  • #* Dryden
  • Deep was the wound; he staggered with the blow.
  • # To cause to reel or totter.
  • The powerful blow of his opponent's fist staggered the boxer.
  • #* Shakespeare
  • That hand shall burn in never-quenching fire / That staggers thus my person.
  • # To cease to stand firm; to begin to give way; to fail.
  • #* Addison
  • The enemy staggers .
  • doubt, waver, be shocked
  • # To begin to doubt and waver in purposes; to become less confident or determined; to hesitate.
  • #* Bible, Rom. iv. 20
  • He [Abraham] staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief.
  • # To cause to doubt and waver; to make to hesitate; to make less steady or confident; to shock.
  • He will stagger the committee when he presents his report.
  • #* Howell
  • Whosoever will read the story of this war will find himself much staggered .
  • #* Burke
  • Grants to the house of Russell were so enormous, as not only to outrage economy, but even to stagger credibility.
  • Multiple groups doing the same thing in a uniform fashion, but starting at different, evenly-spaced, times or places (attested from 1856 Etymology] in [[:w:Online Etymology Dictionary, Online Etymology Dictionary]).
  • # To arrange (a series of parts) on each side of a median line alternately, as the spokes of a wheel or the rivets of a boiler seam.
  • # To arrange similar objects such that each is ahead or above and to one side of the next.
  • We will stagger the starting positions for the race on the oval track.
  • # To schedule in intervals.
  • We will stagger the run so the faster runners can go first, then the joggers.
  • See also

    * bestagger * staggeringly * staggers

    References

    Anagrams

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