staggering

Etymology

verb

1. present participle and gerund of stagger

adj

1. Incredible, overwhelming, amazing.
   The army suffered a staggering defeat.
   It is this stretch which provides what is perhaps the most staggering scenic prospect of all; the impression made on the mind by the overwhelming height of the Eiger, towering over the train, is almost impossible to describe. 1960 December, Voyageur, “The Mountain Railways of the Bernese Oberland”, in Trains Illustrated, page 754
2. Lurching, floundering.

noun

1. The motion of one who staggers.
   There are to whom the gods, in their bounty, give glory: but far oftener it is given in wrath, as a curse and a poison; disturbing the whole inner health and industry of the man; leading onward through dizzy staggerings and tarantula jiggings […] 1837, “Memoirs of Mirabeau”, in The Westminster Review, volume 26, page 436
2. The condition of being staggered or amazed.
   But these doubts, and fears, and staggerings, although they may be in the believer, yet they are not in his faith; these things argue the infirmity of his faith, indeed; but under all this, faith is fighting for the victory[…] 1738, Ebenezer Erskine, The Annals of Redeeming Love
3. In animation, the repetition of a sequence of frames to show struggling effort