So big, or so surprising, that it is hard to take in. This is the word for the THING that shocks you, not the person who is shocked. Its most common job by far is sitting in front of a number or an amount: a staggering 40 per cent, a staggering $2 billion, a staggering amount of food, a staggering number of complaints. When a writer wants a figure to land, this is the word they reach for. It also works for non-number things that are hugely surprising — a staggering achievement, staggering news, staggering rudeness, a staggering waste of money. Notice that it does not tell you good or bad by itself; the surrounding words do that. Staggering beauty is wonderful, staggering incompetence is not. What it always tells you is size — this is off the normal scale. It usually comes before a noun ('a staggering rise') but also works after be ('the cost was staggering'). It is common in journalism and everyday speech, and because journalists overuse it in front of statistics, it can sound a bit like a headline. Save it for things that really are extreme, or it loses its force. Careful with the other meaning: staggering is also the -ing form of the verb stagger, so 'he came staggering through the door' means he was walking unsteadily, probably drunk or hurt — nothing to do with surprise.