Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun An awkward, clumsy, irregular pace or gait.
  • Characterized by an awkward, irregular, clumsy, weak-kneed motion or gait: as, a shambling trot; shambling legs.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Characterized by an awkward, irregular pace
  • noun An awkward, irregular gait.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb Present participle of shamble.
  • adjective Who walks while dragging or shuffling the feet.
  • noun An awkward, irregular gait.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun walking with a slow dragging motion without lifting your feet

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word shambling.

Examples

  • Hell, if the characters know to call the shambling undead 'zombies' (and they do), then they ought to have the good sense to aim high.

    October 18th, 2005 moriarty6 2005

  • Bill Clinton's first years in office are typically described as shambling, unfocused seminars and late-night bull sessions, with flurries of activity, lots of games of hearts and little discipline.

    Daily Kos 2009

  • "Bill represents a kind of shambling irony; he's heroic and disreputable at the same time," says his friend and fellow Ghostbuster Harold Ramis, who directed "Groundhog Day."

    A Groundhog Has His Day 2008

  • A stranger of about fourteen was walking towards them, or perhaps "shambling" would be

    A harum-scarum schoolgirl Angela Brazil 1907

  • That Heard renders him as nothing more than a kind of shambling nice guy subverts his touted mystique, deprives the production of a magneticcentral character, and begs the question of why we should be upset about his awful fate.

    Chicago Reader 2010

  • That Heard renders him as nothing more than a kind of shambling nice guy subverts his touted mystique, deprives the production of a magneticcentral character, and begs the question of why we should be upset about his awful fate.

    Chicago Reader 2010

  • That Heard renders him as nothing more than a kind of shambling nice guy subverts his touted mystique, deprives the production of a magneticcentral character, and begs the question of why we should be upset about his awful fate.

    Chicago Reader 2010

  • That Heard renders him as nothing more than a kind of shambling nice guy subverts his touted mystique, deprives the production of a magneticcentral character, and begs the question of why we should be upset about his awful fate.

    Chicago Reader 2010

  • That Heard renders him as nothing more than a kind of shambling nice guy subverts his touted mystique, deprives the production of a magneticcentral character, and begs the question of why we should be upset about his awful fate.

    Chicago Reader 2009

  • Then maybe the shambling undead Superman can rest in peace.

    What Price Super-Heroics? 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.