What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Trip vs Tumble - What's the difference?

trip | tumble |

In intransitive terms the difference between trip and tumble

is that trip is to journey, to make a trip while tumble is to fall end over end.

In transitive terms the difference between trip and tumble

is that trip is to activate or set in motion, as in the activation of a trap, explosive, or switch while tumble is to smooth and polish a rough surface on relatively small parts.

As an adjective trip

is of or relating to trips.

trip

English

Noun

(en noun)
  • A journey; an excursion or jaunt.
  • * (Alexander Pope)
  • I took a trip to London on the death of the queen.
  • *
  • , title=(The Celebrity), chapter=5 , passage=We made an odd party before the arrival of the Ten, particularly when the Celebrity dropped in for lunch or dinner. He could not be induced to remain permanently at Mohair because Miss Trevor was at Asquith, but he appropriated a Hempstead cart from the Mohair stables and made the trip sometimes twice in a day.}}
  • A stumble or misstep.
  • (figurative) An error; a failure; a mistake.
  • * (John Milton)
  • Imperfect words, with childish trips .
  • * Harte
  • Each seeming trip , and each digressive start.
  • A period of time in which one experiences drug-induced reverie or hallucinations.
  • A faux pas, a social error.
  • Intense involvement in or enjoyment of a condition.
  • (engineering) A mechanical or electrical cutout device.
  • A quick, light step; a lively movement of the feet; a skip.
  • * Sir (Walter Scott)
  • His heart bounded as he sometimes could hear the trip of a light female step glide to or from the door.
  • (obsolete) A small piece; a morsel; a bit.
  • * (Geoffrey Chaucer)
  • A trip of cheese.
  • The act of tripping someone, or causing them to lose their footing.
  • * (John Dryden)
  • And watches with a trip his foe to foil.
  • * South
  • It is the sudden trip in wrestling that fetches a man to the ground.
  • (nautical) A single board, or tack, in plying, or beating, to windward.
  • (obsolete, UK, Scotland, dialect) A herd or flock of sheep, goats, etc.
  • (obsolete) A troop of men; a host.
  • (Robert of Brunne)
  • A flock of wigeons.
  • (Webster 1913)

    Derived terms

    * bad trip * boat trip * business trip * day trip * ego trip * fam trip * field trip * guilt trip * head trip * power trip * road trip * round trip * trip down memory lane * trip hop * trippy * trip to the woodshed

    Verb

  • To fall over or stumble over an object as a result of striking it with one's foot.
  • Be careful not to trip on the tree roots.
  • To cause (a person or animal) to fall or stumble.
  • A pedestrian was able to trip the burglar as he was running away.
  • * 1912 , (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 5
  • Early in his boyhood he had learned to form ropes by twisting and tying long grasses together, and with these he was forever tripping Tublat or attempting to hang him from some overhanging branch.
  • To be guilty of a misstep or mistake; to commit an offence against morality, propriety, etc.
  • * John Locke
  • till his tongue trip
  • * South
  • A blind will thereupon comes to be led by a blind understanding; there is no remedy, but it must trip and stumble.
  • * Dryden
  • Virgil is so exact in every word that none can be changed but for a worse; he pretends sometimes to trip , but it is to make you think him in danger when most secure.
  • (obsolete) To detect in a misstep; to catch; to convict.
  • * Shakespeare
  • These her women can trip me if I err.
  • To activate or set in motion, as in the activation of a trap, explosive, or switch.
  • When we get into the factory, trip the lights.
  • To be activated, as by a signal or an event.
  • The alarm system tripped , throwing everyone into a panic.
  • To experience a state of reverie or to hallucinate, due to consuming psychoactive drugs.
  • After taking the LSD, I started tripping about fairies and colors.
  • To journey, to make a trip.
  • Last summer we tripped to the coast.
  • (dated) To move with light, quick steps; to walk or move lightly; to skip.
  • * Milton
  • Come, and trip it, as you go, / On the light fantastic toe.
  • * Dryden
  • She bounded by, and tripped so light / They had not time to take a steady sight.
  • (nautical) To raise (an anchor) from the bottom, by its cable or buoy rope, so that it hangs free.
  • (nautical) To pull (a yard) into a perpendicular position for lowering it.
  • Derived terms

    * trip out * trip over * tripper * trip the light fantastic * trip up * tripwire

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (poker slang) Of or relating to .
  • ----

    tumble

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A fall.
  • I took a tumble down the stairs and broke my tooth.
  • An act of sexual intercourse.
  • * John Betjeman, Group Life: Letchworth
  • Wouldn't it be jolly now, / To take our Aertex panters off / And have a jolly tumble in / The jolly, jolly sun?
  • * 1979 , Martine, Sexual Astrology (page 219)
  • When you've just had a tumble between the sheets and are feeling rumpled and lazy, she may want to get up so she can make the bed.

    Derived terms

    * rough and tumble * take a tumble * tumble dryer * tumbler * give a tumble

    Verb

    (tumbl)
  • (lb) To fall end over end.
  • *(Robert South) (1634–1716)
  • *:He who tumbles from a tower surely has a greater blow than he who slides from a molehill.
  • *
  • *:“Heavens!” exclaimed Nina, “the blue-stocking and the fogy!—and yours are'' pale blue, Eileen!—you’re about as self-conscious as Drina—slumping there with your hair tumbling ''à la Mérode! Oh, it's very picturesque, of course, but a straight spine and good grooming is better.”
  • To perform gymnastics such as somersaults, rolls, and handsprings.
  • :(Rowe)
  • To roll over and over.
  • *1908 , (Kenneth Grahame), (The Wind in the Willows)
  • *:The two animals tumbled over each other in their eagerness to get inside, and heard the door shut behind them with great joy and relief.
  • (lb) To have sexual intercourse.
  • (lb) To smooth and polish a rough surface on relatively small parts.
  • To muss, to make disorderly; to tousle or rumple.
  • :
  • Derived terms

    * tumble to