teeter
/ˈtitəɹ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 2.43 in modern English
6
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
verb
To be indecisive; to hesitate.
Example Sentences
- "He teetered on the brink of the precipice."
- "The concrete floors of B2B sheds were already being built to an exacting degree of flatness, calibrated using lasers, so that forklifts would not teeter while lifting pallets to the highest shelves."
- "This is not a land of blowouts. It’s a middle ground, and that’s reflected in voter registration rolls. Nearly 2.6 million North Carolinians declare themselves unaffiliated, while just over 2.4 million identify as Democrats and just under 2.2 million as Republicans. We don’t tilt. We teeter."
- "How many other organizations have sprung up amidst apparently unlimited energy, been the focus of a great deal of activism and education, and then begun to diminish? Some teeter along for a long time even though their base of support seems to have eroded; some metamorphose into something else entirely. Others die, and their death may be more or less peaceful, more or less guilt-riddled."
- "We teetered on the fence about buying getaway tickets and missed the opportunity."
- "Despite appearances, the firm was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy."
Etymology
Alteration of titter.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈtitəɹ/
- British English: /ˈtiːtə/
Usage
- Intransitive verb
- Canadian usage
- American usage