stumble across/on/onto/upon

idiom

: to find or learn about (something) unexpectedly
I stumbled across/on/upon this book by chance.
We stumbled onto/across the ruins of an old fort.
They stumbled on/upon a bizarre plot.
He stumbled onto the truth.

Examples of stumble across/on/onto/upon in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
The point is to realize that AI may stumble upon a news story and summarize it accordingly. Nancy Marshall, Forbes.com, 16 July 2025 Like the ongoing debate over kids and gender, the teens-and-phones discourse taps into a dread that your kid might stumble onto new ideas, very likely online, and be irreversibly transformed. Molly Fischer, New Yorker, 30 June 2025 Early buzz suggests a darkly comedic fairy tale about a father (Paul Rudd) and daughter (Jenna Ortega) who stumble upon a unicorn carcass. Ana Gutierrez, Austin American Statesman, 2 July 2025 The latest trend on the app is completely NSFW and is shocking people who stumble upon it on their For You Pages. Stylecaster Editors, StyleCaster, 25 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for stumble across/on/onto/upon

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Cite this Entry

“Stumble across/on/onto/upon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stumble%20across%2Fon%2Fonto%2Fupon. Accessed 4 Aug. 2025.

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