falter
An unsteadiness.
To waver or be unsteady; to weaken or trail off.
To stammer; to utter with hesitation, or in a weak and trembling manner.
“It’s — it’s true?” faltered Professor McGonagall. “After all he’s done . . . all the people he’s killed . . . he couldn’t kill a little boy? It’s just astounding . . . of all the things to stop him . . . but how in the name of heaven did Harry survive?” “We can only guess,” said Dumbledore. “We may never know.”
To fail in distinctness or regularity of exercise; said of the mind or of thought.
To stumble.
(figuratively) To lose faith or vigor; to doubt or abandon (a cause).
To hesitate in purpose or action.
To cleanse or sift, as barley.