Unsteady in gait as from infirmity or old age:
— A tottering skeleton of a horse.

synoniem: tottery.

Roget 160: weak, feeble, debile^†; impotent etc. 158; relaxed, unnerved, etc. v.; sapless, strengthless^†, powerless; weakly, unstrung, flaccid, adynamic^†, asthenic^†; nervous.    soft, effeminate, feminate^†, womanly.    frail, fragile, shattery^†; flimsy, unsubstantial, insubstantial, gimcrack, gingerbread; rickety, creaky, creaking, cranky; craichy^†; drooping, tottering etc. v.. broken, lame, withered, shattered, shaken, crazy, shaky; palsied etc. 158; decrepit.    languid, poor, infirm; faint, faintish^†; sickly etc. (disease) 655; dull, slack, evanid^†, spent, short-winded, effete; weather-beaten; decayed, rotten, worn, seedy, languishing, wasted, washy, laid low, pulled down, the worse for wear.    unstrengthened etc. 159^†, unsupported, unaided, unassisted; aidless^†, defenseless etc. 158; cantilevered (support) 215.    on its last legs; weak as a child, weak as a baby, weak as a chicken, weak as a cat, weak as a rat; weak as water, weak as water gruel, weak as gingerbread, weak as milk and water; colorless etc. 429.    ... meer laten zien

Roget 659: unimproved etc. (improve) etc. 658; deteriorated etc. v.; altered, altered for the worse; injured etc. v.; sprung; withering, spoiling etc. v.; on the wane, on the decline; tabid^†; degenerate; marescent^†; worse; the worse for, all the worse for; out of repair, out of tune; imperfect etc. 651; the worse for wear; battered; weathered, weather-beaten; stale, passe, shaken, dilapidated, frayed, faded, wilted, shabby, secondhand, threadbare; worn, worn to a thread, worn to a shadow, worn to the stump, worn to rags; reduced, reduced to a skeleton; far gone; tacky [U.S.].    decayed etc. v.; moth-eaten, worm-eaten; mildewed, rusty, moldy, spotted, seedy, time-worn, moss-grown; discolored; effete, wasted, crumbling, moldering, rotten, cankered, blighted, tainted; depraved etc. (vicious) 945; decrepid^†, decrepit; broke, busted, broken, out of commission, hors de combat [Fr.], out of action, broken down; done, done for, done up; worn out, used up, finished; beyond saving, fit for the dust hole, fit for the wastepaper basket, past work etc. (useless) 645.    at a low ebb, in a bad way, on one's last legs; undermined, deciduous; nodding to its fall etc. (destruction) 162; tottering etc. (dangerous) 665; past cure etc. (hopeless) 859; fatigued etc. 688; retrograde etc. (retrogressive) 283; deleterious etc. 649.    ... meer laten zien

Roget 665: in danger etc. n.; endangered etc. v.; fraught with danger; dangerous, hazardous, perilous, parlous, periculous^†; unsafe, unprotected etc. (safe, protect) etc. 664; insecure.    untrustworthy; built upon.   sand, on a sandy basis; wildcat.    defenseless, fenceless, guardless^†, harborless; unshielded; vulnerable, expugnable^†, exposed; open to etc. (liable) 177.    aux abois [Fr.], at bay; on the wrong side of the wall, on a lee shore, on the rocks.    at stake, in question; precarious, critical, ticklish; slippery, slippy; hanging by a thread etc. v.; with a halter round one's neck; between the hammer and the anvil, between Scylla and Charybdis, between a rock and a hard place, between the devil and the deep blue sea, between two fires; on the edge of a precipice, on the brink of a precipice, on the verge of a precipice, on the edge of a volcano; in the lion's den, on slippery ground, under fire; not out of the wood.    unwarned, unadmonished, unadvised, unprepared etc. 674; off one's guard etc. (inexpectant) 508^†.    tottering; unstable, unsteady; shaky, top-heavy, tumbledown, ramshackle, crumbling, waterlogged; helpless, guideless^†; in a bad way; reduced to the last extremity, at the last extremity; trembling in the balance; nodding to its fall etc. (destruction) 162.    threatening etc. 909; ominous, illomened; alarming etc. (fear) 860; explosive.    adventurous etc. (rash) 863, (bold) 861.    ... meer laten zien

of structures or institutions Having lost stability; failing or on the point of collapse.