teeter
UK /ˈtiːtə/ · US /ˈtitəɹ/ verb, noun, proper noun
Forms teeters teetering teetered
- verb (intransitive) To tilt back and forth on an edge. “He teetered on the brink of the precipice.”
- verb (intransitive) To totter (move unsteadily).
- verb (figuratively) To be indecisive; to hesitate. “We teetered on the fence about buying getaway tickets and missed the opportunity.”
- verb (figuratively) To be close to becoming a typically negative situation. “Despite appearances, the firm was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy.”
- noun (Canada, US) A teeter-totter or seesaw.
- proper noun A surname from German.
Synonyms
seesaw teeter-totter teetertotter teeterboard tilting board dandle board totter
Etymology
Alteration of titter.
Americanized spelling of German Dieter.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To move up and down on the ends of a balanced plank, or the like, as children do for sport; to seesaw; to titter; to titter-totter. [U. S.]
Etymology [Prov. E. titter to tremble, to seesaw; cf. Icel. titra to tremble, OHG. zittaron, G. zittern.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “teeter”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details